CRIM2020 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Royal Commission Into The New South Wales Police Service, Inquisitorial System, Centrality
Week 7: (In)visbility of the Pre-Trial Process
The Adversary System and Pre Trial Process
Police role is to investigate the crimes.
1. What is the contradiction, according to Hogg, of the dual role of the police in the
pre-trial process?
• It can become a problem
o The investigation can be compromised
o Some evidence can be chosen over others
o Adversary system's purpose is to convince the jury beyond a reasonable doubt that
the particular person committed the crime
o Truth doesn’t get spoken about very much
o Inquisitorial system the judge will ask the questions
• May take sides
• Police collect evidence and give it to the DPP
• If police have suspicions who is guilty, they will focus their investigation on that person
(can be unfair)
2. Why would police fabricate evidence?
• Police feel frustration with the system
3. What consequences should flow from such behaviour? Do the ends justify the
means?
If you were the judge and you heard that police used illegal methods to gather evidence
on a suspected drug dealer, what would you do?
• One view was, always make is inadmissible
• Other view was let the judge decide
Police Control over Pre-Trial Processes
• Hogg, Police in the Adversary System
o Police inquiry divided into 2 essentially contradictory parts
o Implications apparent in high profile MoJ cases
o McLeod-Lindsay case: expert witnesses mistaken about blood splatters
• Independent police prosecutors?
o Cth DPP formed 1983
o NSW DPP established 1986
o Wood Royal Commission
o Cowardly (former NSW DPP) vs Secretary Police Ass.
Centrality of Guilty Plea and Plea Bargaining
• CJS dependant on guilty plea
o Makes the system faster
o Main objective for those running the CJS
o Not about remorse, all about efficient
o 82% of cases heard on the NSWDC resolved via guilty plea
• Plea bargaining: the defence lawyer and the Crown negotiate
o Same thing as charge negotiation in Australia
• NSWLRC: 'ten obstacles to early guilt pleas'
Guilty Pleas
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