“Tried, Convicted, and Condemned, in Almost Every Bar-room and Barber's Shop”: Anti-Irish Prejudice in the Trial of Dominic Daley and James Halligan, Northampton, Massachusetts, 1806

2011 ◽  
Vol 84 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-233
Author(s):  
Richard D. Brown

To elucidate the question of equal rights for “foreigners,” this essay considers anti-Irish and anti-foreign prejudice in Massachusetts criminal proceedings in the early republic. The trial of Daley and Halligan, long remembered as an example of anti-Irish Catholic prejudice, is examined in the context of other criminal trials of the period.

Author(s):  
Richard D. Brown

How did Americans in the generations following the Declaration of Independence translate its lofty ideals into practice? In this broadly synthetic work, distinguished historian Richard Brown shows that despite its founding statement that “all men are created equal,” the early Republic struggled with every form of social inequality. While people paid homage to the ideal of equal rights, this ideal came up against entrenched social and political practices and beliefs. Brown illustrates how the ideal was tested in struggles over race and ethnicity, religious freedom, gender and social class, voting rights and citizenship. It shows how high principles fared in criminal trials and divorce cases when minorities, women, and people from different social classes faced judgment. This book offers a much-needed exploration of the ways revolutionary political ideas, and especially the idea of equality, penetrated popular thinking and everyday practice.


Author(s):  
Richard D. Brown

Though Americans have favored the idea of equal rights and equal opportunity, they recognize that differences in wealth and social advantage, like differences in ability and appearance, influence the realization, or not, of equal rights, including equality before the law. In the generations after 1776 the rights of creditors, for example, often overrode the rights of debtors. And criminal trials demonstrate that in courtrooms equal treatment was most often achieved when defendant and victim came from the same social class. Otherwise if they came from different classes social realities, including ethnicity, color, and gender could shape court officials and public opinion. And when a woman’s sexual virtue was compromised, her credibility was almost always discounted. In principle officials paid homage to the ideal of equality before the law, but in practice unequal rights often prevailed.


Author(s):  
Richard D. Brown

In New England, if anywhere, equal rights might have included people of color. Free blacks comprised a small fraction of the population, and slave uprisings posed no threat. Yet in this region, as in others, racism prevailed. Discrimination in public business, including voting and education, was commonplace. But in criminal trials procedural safeguards and professional standards limited the effects of prejudice. Public opinion was not so restrained. And in rural New England vigilantes shut down New Hampshire’s racially integrated Noyes Academy and Prudence Crandall’s school for black girls in Connecticut. Connecticut banned schools like Crandall’s, she was jailed briefly, and the state’s supreme court denied equal rights for blacks, setting a precedent for the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dred Scott ruling.


Author(s):  
Irīna Poļevaja

A defence attorney is a significant and notable figure in criminal proceedings who for the whole procedural activity in a criminal case, in theory, should facilitate detecting and correcting possible judicial mistakes. In this respect, it is vital to conduct a series of research in order to highlight prevalent problems and issues of a defence attorney’s participation in criminal trials and to work out relevant recommendations for trial attorneys that would help to forestall, detect and prevent judicial mistakes. A specific condition of a defence attorney’s activity in the process of evidencing at a judicial examination is his awareness of the entire system of evidences presented by the prosecution and accusation conclusions in disputable classification situations. They should rely upon the fact that a judicial examination is performed under circumstances of direct examination of evidence, oral proceedings, publicity, invariability of the body of the court, as well as the fact that both the court and the representatives of the parties take part at the examination. Rather short deadlines of a judicial examination entails working under circumstances when decisions must be taken under extreme conditions, by applying tricks and methods that would allow examining all evidence in the most productive way. It makes sense for a defence attorney to state his activity position and determination of taking an active part in evidencing already at the beginning of court hearings, by filing a motion to summoning new witnesses, experts and specialists, disclosure of material evidence and documents or exclusion of evidence obtained in the way of violating the law. 
The author of the study applied general scientific methods of studying objective reality, peculiar to legal sciences: systematic document analysis, structural-functional analysis, critical approach, generalisation and prediction. As a result, the author provides numerous recommendations and rules for successful and immaculate defence in criminal trials. Aizstāvis ir nozīmīga, ievērojama figūra kriminālprocesā, jo aizstāvja procesuālajai darbībai krimināllietā teorētiski būtu jāatvieglo iespējamo tiesas kļūdu konstatēšana un labošana. Un šajā sakarā ir vitāli svarīgi veikt virkni pētījumu, lai izceltu problēmjautājumus, kas saistīti ar aizstāvja piedalīšanos krimināllietās, un izstrādātu tādas rekomendācijas aizstāvjiem, kas praktiskajā darbībā sekmētu tiesas kļūdu paredzēšanu, konstatēšanu un novēršanu. 
Par specifisku priekšnoteikumu aizstāvja darbībai pierādīšanas procesā tiesas izmeklēšanā ir uzskatāma viņa pilnā informētība par visu pierādījumu sistēmu lietā, kuru piedāvā valsts apsūdzība, un par valsts apsūdzības apsvērumiem strīdus krimināltiesiskās kvalifikācijas gadījumos. Aizstāvim jāņem vērā, ka tiesas izmeklēšana norit pierādījumu tiešas un nepastarpinātas pārbaudes apstākļos, ievērojot mutiskuma, publicitātes un tiesas sastāva nemainīguma principus. Pierādījumu pārbaudē piedalās gan tiesa, gan visi pārējie procesa dalībnieki, kas nav aizstāvības pusē. Likuma prasība ievērot saprātīgus lietas iztiesāšanas termiņus paredz saspringtu darbu, svarīgus lēmumus pieņemot ekstremālos procesuālos apstākļos, izmantojot tādus paņēmienus un metodes, kas veicinātu efektīvu pierādījumu kopuma pārbaudi un novērtēšanu. Aizstāvim būtu ieteicams deklarēt savu aktīvu procesuālo pozīciju un paust gatavību aktīvi piedalīties pierādīšanā jau tiesas izmeklēšanas sākumā, piesakot lūgumus par jauno liecinieku, ekspertu un/vai speciālistu aicināšanu uz tiesas sēdi, kā arī piesakot lūgumus par lietisko pierādījumu un/vai dokumentu pieprasīšanu un par pierādījumu, kas iegūti, pārkāpjot likumu, izslēgšanu no pierādījumu kopuma. 
Šajā pētījumā ir izmantotas vispārīgās zinātniskās metodes, kas sekmē objektīvās realitātes izzināšanu un ir raksturīgas tiesību zinātnei, proti: sistēmiskā dokumentu analīze, strukturāli funkcionālā analīze, kritiskā pieeja, vispārināšana un prognozēšana. Secinājumos tiek piedāvātas vairākas rekomendācijas veiksmīgai, efektīvai un nevainojamai aizstāvībai pirmās instances tiesā.


2021 ◽  
pp. 51-83
Author(s):  
Andrew L-T Choo

Chapter 3 examines the principles relating to the presentation of evidence in court. It first discusses the adversarial tradition upon which the English trial process is based. It then distinguishes between the principles governing the questioning of one’s own witness (which occurs in examination-in-chief and re-examination) and those governing the questioning of another party’s witness (which occurs in cross-examination). It shows that, in criminal proceedings, provisions in the Criminal Justice Act 2003 now deal with two particular matters that may arise in the course of questioning one’s own witness—the extent to which refreshing memory is permitted, and the extent to which a previous consistent statement is admissible in evidence. The chapter also considers other issues, including the judicial approach to ‘no case to answer’ submissions in criminal trials, and the extent to which the claimant or prosecution may adduce further evidence after closing its case.


2006 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 373-390 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine D Watson

This article contributes to the literature on the history of medico-legal practice by using a survey of 535 poisoning cases to examine the emergence of forensic toxicological expertise in nineteenth-century English criminal trials. In emphasizing chemical expertise, it seeks both to expand upon a limited literature on the history of the subject, and to offer a contrast to studies of criminal poisoning that have tended to focus primarily on medical expertise. Poisoning itself is a topic of abiding interest to historians of forensic medicine and science because (together with insanity) it long tended to attract the greatest attention (and often confrontation) in criminal proceedings. In looking at a wide number of cases, however, it becomes apparent that few aroused true medico-legal controversy. Rather, the evidence from several hundred cases tried as felonies during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries indicates that prior to the 1830s few presented any opportunity for “a battle of experts”. While Ian Burney and Tal Golan have shown that this was certainly not the case during the mid and late nineteenth century, this paper goes further by dividing the period under study into three distinct phases in order to show how expert testimony (and experts themselves) changed during the course of the century, and why this process opened a door to the potential for formalized controversy.


2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 180-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elaine Freer

Much academic literature explores the reliability of expert evidence in criminal proceedings in England and Wales. However, almost no attention has been paid to misconduct by experts giving evidence in criminal cases. Whilst rare, its serious impact on the administration of justice and public trust in it means that this area requires analysis. This article explores possible responses to expert witness misconduct occurring in the context of criminal proceedings in England and Wales, noting particularly the differences in responses available, depending firstly upon whether the expert is a registered professional, and secondly whether the expert has stepped outside of their expertise; did not have relevant expertise at all, or was dishonest. Professional disciplinary procedures focus on ‘fitness to practise’, and it is argued that this is sufficient where a registered professional has overstepped their expertise, but has not displayed mala fides. On the contrary, where someone gives evidence purporting to have expertise that they do not, or lies about their conduct as an expert in the case, criminal sanctions are available, appropriate, and should be used. These include contempt of court; perverting the course of justice; fraud by false representation, and perjury.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 1134-1148
Author(s):  
Matthias Jahn ◽  
Charlotte Schmitt-Leonardy

AbstractNegotiated agreements in criminal proceedings have often been regarded as the embodiment of a negative wider trend towards the informalization of the criminal procedure, and have—especially in Germany—long been the subject of vivid controversies. A criminal proceeding in the traditional sense aims to establish the truth ex officio, which is achieved by means of a comprehensive inquiry into the facts conducted by the court during the trial, followed by a sentence that appropriately reflects the individual guilt of the defendant, which can then, in turn, achieve the procedural objective of “justice.” A streamlining of the extensive inquiry into the facts that the court would normally have to conduct via the consensual process of negotiation does not, a priori, fit the mold of a criminal procedure in the aforementioned sense. At the same time, the consensual termination of criminal proceedings—which also includes other forms of termination of the proceeding besides the concept of Verständigung, which occur by means of a preferment of public charges—is, in fact, more prevalent in practice these days than judgments rendered in adversarial trials are. Our Article focuses on the reasons why this stark contrast between legal doctrine and reality came to pass and which aspects of the implementation of the concept of consensus into the German law of criminal procedure still seem problematic.


Legal Studies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 609-629
Author(s):  
Abenaa Owusu-Bempah

AbstractOver the past two decades, there have been significant legal developments aimed at securing and enhancing the participation of vulnerable witnesses in criminal trials. Yet, there remains relatively little regard for the fact that many defendants, including those who are not deemed to be vulnerable, are unable to participate in criminal proceedings in a meaningful sense. This paper aims to address two questions. First, why should defendants have participatory rights and be capable of meaningful participation in criminal proceedings? Second, why has it proven so difficult to attain meaningful participation of defendants? It is contended that barriers to meaningful communication between the defendant and the court could be dismantled without great difficulty, but continue to exist because due regard is not given to the normative rationales for participatory rights and defendant participation.


This chapter elaborates upon the framework set forth in the preceding chapter about the unique nature of sexual violence as a tactic of war and implications of this for the victims' needs to examine the limitations and challenges in addressing these needs within the context of the international criminal trials. The discussion offers a critical evaluation of the effectiveness of the growing victim-oriented approach in international criminal justice in responding to the needs of victims of conflict-related mass sexual violence. It presents an in-depth analysis of the procedural, legal, and practical aspects of the growing trend of victims' participation in international criminal justice proceedings, as currently being developed by the ICC, highlighting issues impeding its effectiveness in advancing effective redress for victims of sexual violence in conflict situations. This chapter argues that, while the growing victims' inclusion in the international criminal process remains a significant component of comprehensive victim-focused responses, it risks failing to consider the contextual dynamics surrounding the plight of victims of conflict-related sexual violence during and after conflicts, thereby falling short of providing effective responses to the needs of victims.


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