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Date: November 22, 2024 Fri
Time: 12:23 pm
Time: 12:23 pm
Results for criminal trials
8 results foundAuthor: New South Wales. Parliament. Legislative Council. Standing Committee on Law and Justice Title: Inquiry Into Judge Alone Trials Under s.132 of the Criminal Procedure Act 1986 Summary: This inquiry into judge alone trials under section 132 of the Criminal Procedure Act 1986 was commenced after the Attorney General requested that the Committee consider a proposal to amend the Act so as to allow either party in criminal proceedings to apply to the court for trial by judge alone, without a requirement that the prosecution consents to the application, with the decision to be made by the court based on the interests of justice. The terms of reference for the Inquiry outlines the proposed model which the Committee, with the assistance of stakeholders, has considered. The proposed model for judge alone trials shifts the application and decision making process from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution (ODPP) to the courts. This shift is most significant in instances where the accused applies for a judge alone trial and the prosecution does not consent. In this situation it is the court that would determine the application on the basis of an 'interests of justice' test. This shift in decision making power from the ODPP to the court evoked much discussion amongst Inquiry participants, with a clear dichotomy of views emerging during the Inquiry. On balance, and after much deliberation, the Committee has concluded that the proposed model for judge alone trials provides a fair and transparent system for both the accused and the prosecution to apply for a judge alone trial. Our careful consideration of the model has, however, led us to identify three areas where the model can be improved. These areas relate to the need for the accused to provide informed consent to applications for judge alone trials, raising the threshold in the jury tampering exception, and ensuring that the 'interests of justice' test includes an inclusive, not exhaustive, list of factors for the courts to consider in determining applications for a judge alone trial. The Committee considers that, subject to our recommended changes, the proposed model will provide a transparent and equitable method of applying for, and determining, applications for judge alone trials. While the Committee has supported the proposed model for judge alone trials, this should not be taken as support for judge alone trials as a replacement for jury trials. The Committee believes that both modes of trial have an essential role to play in our criminal justice system. Details: Sydney: The Committee, 2010. 113p. Source: Internet Resource: Report no. 44: Accessed December 23, 2010 at: http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/committee.nsf/0/8532dcbfa13afcc7ca2577d400826cd1/$FILE/101108%20Final%20Report.pdf Year: 2010 Country: Australia URL: http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/committee.nsf/0/8532dcbfa13afcc7ca2577d400826cd1/$FILE/101108%20Final%20Report.pdf Shelf Number: 120627 Keywords: CourtsCriminal Procedure (Australia)Criminal TrialsJudges |
Author: Anwar, Shamena Title: The Impact of Jury Race in Criminal Trials Summary: This paper examines the impact of jury racial composition on trial outcomes using a unique data set of all felony trials in Florida between 2000-2010. We utilize a research design that exploits day-to-day variation in the composition of the jury pool to isolate quasi-random variation in the composition of the seated jury, finding evidence that: (i) juries formed from all-white juries pools convict black defendants significantly (16 percentage points) more often than white defendants and (ii) this gap in conviction rates is entirely eliminated when the jury pool includes at least one black member. IV estimates of the of the racial composition of the seated jury on trial outcomes are about 2.5 times greater than the corresponding OLS estimates, implying that the impact of jury race is much greater than what a simple correlation of the race of the seated jury and conviction rates would suggest. These findings imply that the application of justice is highly uneven and raise obvious concerns about the fairness of trials in jurisdictions with a small proportion of blacks in the jury pool. Details: Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research, 2010. 37p. Source: Internet Resource: NBER Working Paper Series; Working Paper 16366: Accessed June 17, 2011 at: http://www.nber.org/papers/w16366 Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w16366 Shelf Number: 121835 Keywords: Criminal TrialsJuriesJurors (U.S.)Race |
Author: Dharmapala, Dhammika Title: Do Exclusionary Rules Convict the Innocent? Summary: Rules excluding various kinds of evidence from criminal trials play a prominent role in criminal procedure, and have generated considerable controversy. In this paper, we address the general topic of excluding factually relevant evidence, that is, the kind of evidence that would rationally influence the jury’s verdict if it were admitted. We do not offer a comprehensive analysis of these exclusionary rules, but add to the existing literature by identifying a new domain for economic analysis, focusing on how juries respond to the existence of such a rule. We show that the impact of exclusionary rules on the likelihood of conviction is complex and depends on the degree of rationality exhibited by juries and on the motivations of the prosecutor. Details: Chicago: Law School, University of Chicago, 2011. 19p. Source: Internet Resource: U of Chicago Law & Economics, Olin Working Paper No. 569 Illinois Program in Law, Behavior and Social Science Paper No. LBSS11-30, Accessed November 1, 2011 at: http://www.law.uchicago.edu/files/file/569-rma-innocent.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://www.law.uchicago.edu/files/file/569-rma-innocent.pdf Shelf Number: 123210 Keywords: Criminal TrialsEvidenceExclusionary RuleInnocenceJuries |
Author: Human Rights Watch Title: Justice on Trial: Lessons from the Minova Rape case in the Democratic Republic of Congo Summary: In November 2012, thousands of defeated army troops rampaged through the small eastern town of Minova and neighboring villages in the Democratic Republic of Congo, pillaging and raping as they went. It was one of the worst incidents of sexual violence in Congo in recent years. A year later, under intense international pressure, Congolese judicial authorities brought to trial 25 soldiers and 14 officers for war crimes before a domestic military court. The Minova rape trial raised high hopes and drew intense international scrutiny. It was seen as a key test for providing accountability for the pervasive sexual violence and other abuses that have plagued eastern Congo. Yet, despite massive international support, the proceedings failed to deliver justice: none of the high level commanders with overall responsibility for the troops in Minova were indicted and some of those who went to prison were convicted on questionable evidence without right to appeal. Justice on Trial is based on extensive interviews with military justice officials, lawyers, victims who testified, United Nations staff, and local activists, and analysis of public court documents. It examines the inner workings of the Congolese military justice system and highlights - through the shortcomings in this case - the barriers that often thwart effective justice for atrocities in Congolese courts, including insufficient expertise in handling grave international crimes, violations of fair trial rights, and an apparent unwillingness to pursue high-level commanders. The scale of serious crimes committed in Congo, and the limitations of the International Criminal Court, increase the burden on the Congolese justice system to develop the capacity and will to prosecute crimes competently, independently, and impartially. Details: New York: HRW, 2015. 110p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 8, 2015 at: https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/drc1015_4up_0.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Congo, Democratic Republic URL: https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/drc1015_4up_0.pdf Shelf Number: 136972 Keywords: Criminal TrialsMilitary CourtsRapeSexual ViolenceViolence Against Women |
Author: New Zealand. Law Commission. Title: The Justice Response to Victims of Sexual Violence. Criminal trials and Alternative Processes Summary: In its Report The Justice Response to Victims of Sexual Violence: Criminal Trials and Alternative Processes (R136), the Law Commission completes a review of trial processes in sexual violence cases and makes recommendations for change. It considers whether a non-criminal process is a viable alternative way of dealing with certain incidents of sexual violence, where that is desired by the victim, and puts forward a proposal to give effect to such an alternative. It also suggests that victims should have wraparound support throughout their time in the justice system and proposes the creation of a commission against sexual violence which would be responsible for leading and coordinating the provision of support to victims of sexual violence. The Law Commission makes a total of 82 recommendations across three distinct areas. Those recommendations include the following: Trial process and the courts - There should be a limit on the amount of time it takes for criminal proceedings involving sexual violence to get to trial. - Less traumatic methods of giving evidence at trial should be made available to complainants of sexual violence. - All judges who sit on sexual violence trials should receive special training. - A specialist sexual violence court should be piloted and future consideration should be given to whether proceedings in that court should or should not be heard in front of a jury. Alternative process - Government should put in place a legal and policy framework to give effect to an alternative process that could operate entirely separately of criminal trial. - The process would provide for a victim to complete a programme that addresses the harm caused by the sexual violence and that facilitates discussion with and reparation by the perpetrator, if appropriate. - It would be run by accredited, expert providers. - There would be some flexibility as to how the process is run by each provider but nationwide standards would ensure the safety of participants and cases could be rejected if the provider assessed them as unsuitable based on public safety risk or risk to the victim. - If this process was successfully completed by a perpetrator, the incident of sexual violence could not form the basis of a subsequent criminal prosecution. Support for victims - Government should develop training and education programmes for all those who interact with sexual violence victims in a professional capacity and should also consider a national accreditation programme. - A sexual violence commission should be established to coordinate support services for victims and to promote communication and consultation across the sector, and between government-based and community-based support providers. - The commission should also be responsible for carrying out research, delivering training and education programmes, and accrediting and monitoring the providers of the alternative process. Details: Wellington, NZ: Law Commission, 2015. 249p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 11, 2016 at: http://www.lawcom.govt.nz/sites/default/files/projectAvailableFormats/NZLC-R136-The-Justice-Response-to-Victims-of-Sexual-Violence.pdf Year: 2015 Country: New Zealand URL: http://www.lawcom.govt.nz/sites/default/files/projectAvailableFormats/NZLC-R136-The-Justice-Response-to-Victims-of-Sexual-Violence.pdf Shelf Number: 137458 Keywords: Criminal TrialsSex OffendersSexual ViolenceVictims of Crimes |
Author: Goodman-Delahunty, Jane Title: Jury reasoning in joint and separate trials of institutional child sexual abuse: An empirical study Summary: This report forms part of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse's research program in relation to the criminal justice system's response to child sexual abuse in institutional contexts. Child sex offenders are not a homogenous group and their offending behaviours vary widely. Offenders may offend against one victim or many victims, and they may engage in one incident of sexual abuse or multiple repeated incidents. The diversity and complexity of offending behaviours has a number of implications for the prosecution of child sex offenders. The scope of this report This study investigated the extent to which joint trials with cross-admissible tendency evidence infringed defendants' rights, and the extent to which joint trials posed a risk of unfair prejudice to the defendant. In particular, we investigated the reasoning processes of juries in a simulated joint trial of sex offences involving three complainants versus a separate trial involving a single complainant. Our jury deliberation and reasoning study investigated these issues by presenting 10 different versions of a videotaped trial involving the same core evidence to a total of 1,029 jury-eligible mock jurors. The study tested the impact of evidence strength, the number of charges and the presence of specific judicial directions on jury decision-making in joint versus separate trials. The five key aims of the project were to: 1. Document juries' interpretation of cross-admissible evidence in a joint child sexual abuse trial, to determine the extent to which juries engage in impermissible reasoning regarding such evidence Compare the above decision-making processes with those of juries in a separate trial involving the same defendant 3. Compare trial outcomes (acquittal, conviction or hung jury) in a joint versus separate trial involving the same defendant 4. Examine the relationship between jurors' misconceptions about child sexual abuse, jury deliberations and decisions, and trial outcomes 5. Determine the effect of question trail use on juries' reasoning and decisions. Details: Sydney: Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, 2016. 376p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 28, 2016 at: http://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/getattachment/b268080d-599a-4d44-a9c5-c3f8181bae96/Jury-reasoning-in-joint-trials-of-institutional-ch Year: 2016 Country: Australia URL: http://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/getattachment/b268080d-599a-4d44-a9c5-c3f8181bae96/Jury-reasoning-in-joint-trials-of-institutional-ch Shelf Number: 139863 Keywords: Child Sexual AbuseCriminal EvidenceCriminal TrialsJurorsJury Decision-MakingSex Offenders |
Author: Newark, Scott Title: Justice on Trial: Inefficiencies and ineffectiveness in the Canadian criminal justice system Summary: Canada's criminal justice system is a vast and complex machine with numerous players whose actions or inactions impact each other: the courts, the police, corrections, and legal professionals. For those Canadians who are exposed to it, whether as victims or accused, delay and inefficiency can cause real hardship. For taxpayers and those who care about effective public policy and public safety, inefficient and ineffective courts create excessive costs and stand in the way of the proper administration of justice. Good justice policy can only be informed by gathering and analysing the right data, but this has rarely been undertaken in Canada. This paper examines the data on crime rates, length of trials, administration of justice offences, and other measures to get a clear picture of a system that is too often beset with delay and inefficiency. The issues could not be timelier, with the Supreme Court of Canada's July 2016 ruling in the case of R. v. Jordan establishing time frames for reasonable lengths of trial. The accused in the case waited more than 49 months from the time of his arrest to his conviction on a drug offence, which the court found was reflective of a "culture of complacency towards delay". The data show that the police-reported adult crime rate is down 25 percent and youth crime is down 47 percent between 2004 and 2014 (although there was a marked increase in violent crime in 2015). Even so, in 2013/14, the median amount of time from an individual's first court appearance to the completion of their case was 123 days (around 4 months), a slight increase from the years prior. So the system overall has been facing fewer cases but taking longer to complete them. Also of note, offences against the "administration of justice" (violating court orders or bail conditions for example) decreased by 7 percent between 2004 and 2014, much less than the 34 percent decline in the overall crime rate, suggesting that the system is dealing with a smaller core of repeat offenders. Additionally, rates of those in jail awaiting trial (or on "remand") have been exacerbated by the practice of the Courts using judicial discretion to award extra credit due to the perceived less pleasant conditions for offenders. Ironically, a result of this approach is to actually reward repeat offenders at sentencing who are properly and lawfully denied bail, and it also creates an incentive for the accused to stay in jail, adding costs to the system. This paper recommends a Criminal Code amendment that permits pre-trial credit at sentencing but expressly precludes it where bail has been denied because of the past criminal conduct of the person charged. In 1990 the Supreme Court of Canada released its decision in the R. v. Askov case, ruling that unjustified delay could constitute a breach of Charter rights. Since then, some defence counsel insist on strict procedural compliance to delay proceedings in an effort to get charges dismissed. What was intended as a shield against abuse has now become a sword to avoid responsibility, and systemic delay is but one of the results. Exacerbating matters, the 1991 Stinchcombe case now mandates disclosure before a preliminary inquiry, which has led to significant delays and calls for its abolition, although this is not feasible because a preliminary inquiry is required by the Charter if the potential punishment is five years or more. But this applies to a wide range of less serious offenses, which have long maximum sentences that are never imposed, including residential break and entry, which has a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. This paper recommends that the Criminal Code should be amended to create select hybrid offences with an option for a sentence of five years less one day, to reduce significantly the number of cases requiring preliminary inquiry. In addition, part XVIII.1 of the Criminal Code regarding mandatory case resolution procedures should be reviewed by the provinces to ensure it is practically achieving the intended result of expediting case processing and resolution. Other promising measures for increasing justice system efficiency include: increasing the jurisdiction of Provincial Courts, simplifying judicial authorizations for evidence gathering and admissibility, changing Legal Aid service delivery models to increase full time salaried counsel and reduce private counsel who bill based on time spent, and more. There is no shortage of reforms to consider. Finally, this paper makes a series of recommendations intended to deal with repeat offenders and administration of justice offences: - Creation of the Criminal Code offence (s. 145) of breach of a condition of conditional release under the Corrections and Conditional Release Act (CCRA); - authorize the Parole Board of Canada to order electronic monitoring of offenders on conditional release; - amend the CCRA to restrict statutory release eligibility to first time federal offenders and require earned parole for repeat federal custody offenders; and - amend the CCRA to expressly restrict parole for convicted non-citizens serving a federal sentence for the purpose of immediate removal from Canada. While the data collected for this report reveal a great deal, there is a wide range of potentially extremely useful data points that should be collected by Statcan or the relevant institutions. Because of the multiple players and processes in the Canadian criminal justice system it is extremely important to identify and track information. The Jordan ruling has articulated the importance of improving justice system efficiency and this paper offers some specific suggestions to achieve that goal. While there will no doubt be institutional resistance to this kind of analysis, the best way to design and implement effective public safety reforms is to gather the relevant information, ask the right questions, and make the appropriate choices. Canadians deserve nothing less. Details: Ottawa, ONT: Macdonald-Laurier Institute, 2016. 44p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 15, 2016 at: http://www.macdonaldlaurier.ca/files/pdf/MLI_NewarkJusticegood.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Canada URL: http://www.macdonaldlaurier.ca/files/pdf/MLI_NewarkJusticegood.pdf Shelf Number: 144879 Keywords: Crime RatesCriminal CourtsCriminal Justice AdministrationCriminal Justice ReformCriminal Justice SystemsCriminal Trials |
Author: Gollwitzer, Anton Title: The Role of Age in Plea Bargain Decision Making Summary: Research has elucidated that defendants in criminal cases behave differently depending on their age. How age specifically affects plea bargain behavior, however, has only been sparsely investigated. In four studies, we observed that age influences whether lay individuals' plea bargain decision making is concordant (i.e., accept plea bargains if guilty and opt for trial if innocent) or discordant (i.e., accept a plea bargain if innocent and opt for a trial if guilty) in 'mock' criminal scenarios. In line with emerging adults' (18-28 years old) increased just-world beliefs and illusions of transparency, Study 1 provided indirect evidence that emerging adults' plea bargain decision making is more concordant than mature adults (29-40). Study 2, however, found that this effect is dependent on the defendant's likelihood of conviction. Studies 3 and 4 emulated Studies 1 and 2, however, they examined how parents of differently aged children advise their children regarding plea bargains decision making. Parents of younger children (8-11 years old) advised their child similarly to how they themselves would act. Parents of adolescents (12-18), on the other hand, adopted an entirely concordant approach, advising their adolescent child to behave according to their child's culpability. Overall, we find that individuals' approach to plea bargain decision making depends on their age group (or the age group of their children), culpability, and probability of conviction. Details: New haven, CT: Yale University, School of Law, 2018. 44p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 8, 2018 at: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3149960 Year: 2018 Country: United States URL: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3149960 Shelf Number: 150111 Keywords: Criminal CourtCriminal TrialsDecision-MakingPlea Bargaining |