Exploring the Boundaries of the Criminal Courtroom Workgroup

2013 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 203-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Young
Keyword(s):  
Courtroom Workgroup ◽  
Criminal Courtroom

Legal challenges in bringing AI evidence to the criminal courtroom

2021 ◽  
pp. 203228442110570
Author(s):  
Katherine Quezada-Tavárez ◽  
Plixavra Vogiatzoglou ◽  
Sofie Royer
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Fair Trial ◽  
Criminal Proceedings ◽  
Legal Challenges ◽  
Criminal Courtroom ◽  
European Criminal Law ◽  
Applications Of Ai

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming the criminal justice system. One of the promising applications of AI in this field is the gathering and processing of evidence to investigate and prosecute crime. Despite its great potential, AI evidence also generates novel challenges to the requirements in the European criminal law landscape. This study aims to contribute to the burgeoning body of work on AI in criminal justice, elaborating upon an issue that has not received sufficient attention: the challenges triggered by AI evidence in criminal proceedings. The analysis is based on the norms and standards for evidence and fair trial, which are fleshed out in a large amount of European case law. Through the lens of AI evidence, this contribution aims to reflect on these issues and offer new perspectives, providing recommendations that would help address the identified concerns and ensure that the fair trial standards are effectively respected in the criminal courtroom.

From Classroom to a Criminal Courtroom

2021 ◽  
pp. 31-38
Author(s):  
Theodor Meron
Keyword(s):  
International Criminal Court ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
Ethical Conduct ◽  
Reasonable Doubt ◽  
International Courts ◽  
International Crimes ◽  
The Core ◽  
Criminal Courtroom

This chapter discusses the author’s transition from being a teacher to being an international criminal Judge. The life of a Judge is much more circumscribed by rules and traditions than the life of a teacher. Both national and international courts have typically adopted codes of professional and ethical conduct, which often include or are accompanied by disciplinary rules to ensure compliance and accountability. It is important to understand that the core mandate of an international criminal court is to try individuals within a governing legal framework and to determine whether—given the specific evidence presented and admitted by the court—the responsibility of an individual accused of international crimes has been established beyond reasonable doubt. The chapter then recounts the author’s experience as an international criminal Judge and assesses whether academics make good criminal Judges.

“Do you understand these charges?”: How procedural communication in youth criminal justice court violates the rights of young offenders in Canada

Semiotica ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 (229) ◽  
pp. 173-191
Author(s):  
Tara Suri
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Oral Language ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Young Offenders ◽  
Legal Professionals ◽  
Youth Criminal Justice Act ◽  
Government Of Canada ◽  
The Right ◽  
Criminal Courtroom

AbstractThis paper considers Canada’s young offenders in the context from which they enter the youth criminal courtroom. To determine how youth criminal justice courts violate the Canadian Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA), this analysis relates said context to several phenomena, including legal linguistics, oral language competency, literacy, communicative competency, non-verbal communication, the physical structure of youth courtrooms, and legal translation (Government of Canada eds. 2018. Youth criminal justice act. Ottawa: Government of Canada.). As a result of the standards of procedural communication upheld by the Canadian criminal justice system, young people’s rights, including the right to be respected regardless of cultural, ethnic, or linguistic differences, the right to be heard and to participate in proceedings, the right to be sentenced meaningfully, the right to privacy, and the right to be tried in a timely manner are abused in the youth criminal courtroom. Although insufficient structures of procedural communication cause these issues and are beyond the control of counsel, defense counsel are often blamed for their effects. Legal professionals must make important adjustments such as altering the formal speech required in youth criminal courtrooms, employing legal professionals with the role of translating legal jargon to young people in the courtroom, and closing youth courtrooms off from the public to reduce the YCJA violations occurring in youth criminal justice court. These adjustments are ultimately the responsibility of the Canadian criminal justice system.

Who Said Anything About Justice? Bail Court and the Culture of Adjournment

2015 ◽  
Vol 30 (01) ◽  
pp. 127-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole Marie Myers
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Court ◽  
Criminal Cases ◽  
Courtroom Workgroup ◽  
Using Data

Abstract The criminal court is supposed to be a place of adversarial justice; however, these formal legal values do not appear to translate into practice. The courtroom workgroup, though made up of formal adversaries with widely divergent roles and objectives, is a community of workers whose shared interests include getting through the day as quickly and efficiently as possible. Using data from 142 days of bail court observation in Ontario the author argues that a “culture of adjournment” has taken over the bail process. Rather than the court being run by an efficient adversarial group of people processing criminal cases through the system, the courtroom has developed a culture that emphasizes the importance of expeditiously disposing of the daily docket over distributing justice.

The Law of Primacy in the Criminal Courtroom

1969 ◽  
Vol 77 (1) ◽  
pp. 121-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert G. Lawson
Keyword(s):  
The Law ◽  
Criminal Courtroom

A Genre Study of Prosecutors and Criminal Defense Lawyers in American Movies and Television

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Asimow
Keyword(s):  
Personal Life ◽  
Crime Victim ◽  
Criminal Trials ◽  
Personal Lives ◽  
The Public ◽  
Defense Lawyer ◽  
Public Defense ◽  
Criminal Defense ◽  
Cultural Texts ◽  
Criminal Courtroom

The term genre refers to a set of thematically or stylistically similar popular cultural texts. Courtroom narratives form both movie and television genres, and criminal trials form subgenres. Each entry in the criminal subgenres contains a criminal trial and pits a prosecutor against a defense lawyer. This article discusses the genre conventions for these characters. Where the defense lawyer is a protagonist, the client is a co-protagonist. The client is either innocent or is being unjustly prosecuted. The defense lawyer, often presented in heroic terms, struggles to get the client acquitted (or the punishment reduced). The defense lawyer must overcome obstacles that the antagonist prosecutor places in the lawyer’s path. Defense lawyers are loners who are lacking in personal life or emotions. Perry Mason is the iconic genre defense lawyer. Where the prosecutor is the protagonist, the crime victim (or survivors of a deceased victim) are the co-protagonists. Prosecutors are relentless, honorable, and often politically ambitious. They must struggle to overcome obstacles erected by defense lawyers. Like defense lawyers, prosecutors lack a personal life or emotions. Jack McCoy on Law & Order is the iconic genre prosecutor. These generic conventions have become stale. Consequently, creators of pop culture products in the criminal courtroom subgenre employ genre-busting narratives that have refreshed the genre. Defense lawyers often work for clients they suspect are guilty and try to get them off through the use of technical defenses. Guilty clients deceive gullible lawyers into putting on cases with perjured testimony. If the client confesses guilt, the lawyer betrays the client to protect the public. Defense lawyers have personal lives, feelings, and emotions, and some are anti-heroes. Genre-busting prosecutors often have unpleasant personalities, and they don’t hesitate to bend ethical rules. As in the case of defense lawyers, prosecutors have inner lives and personal relationships. These genre-busters have destabilized the generic conventions and may well have established new conventions.

Community Prosecution and Building Trust Across a Racial Divide

2021 ◽  
pp. 412-428
Author(s):  
Ronald F. Wright
Keyword(s):  
Minority Groups ◽  
Criminal Proceedings ◽  
Negative Experiences ◽  
The Public ◽  
Use Of Data ◽  
History Of ◽  
Data Transparency ◽  
Racial Divide ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
Criminal Courtroom

Community prosecution seeks input from local groups to shape the priorities of the prosecutor’s office. Prosecutors who listen to the community aim to develop a relationship of trust between the community and the local prosecutor’s office; such outreach is especially valuable in connection with racial minority groups with a history of negative experiences with criminal justice actors. A community prosecution strategy calls for the office to work with community partners both upstream and downstream from the criminal courtroom. The upstream efforts involve diversion of defendants out of criminal proceedings and into treatment and accountability programs outside the courts. Downstream efforts include programs to promote the smooth re-entry of people returning to the community after serving a criminal sentence. Community prosecution is best accomplished in offices committed to collection and use of data, transparency, and accountability to the public.

Historical Narrative Pluralism Within and Beyond International Criminal Courts

2021 ◽  
pp. 276-303
Author(s):  
Barrie Sander
Keyword(s):  
International Criminal ◽  
Historical Narrative ◽  
Historical Narratives ◽  
Social Meaning ◽  
Criminal Courts ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Intended Meaning ◽  
Mass Atrocity ◽  
Practical Factors ◽  
Criminal Courtroom

This chapter critically reflects on the expectations of historical finality and closure that have typically accompanied the rendering of international criminal judgments. The chapter argues that the historical narratives constructed within the judgments of international criminal courts are subject to a process of ongoing contestation and evolution both within and beyond the courtroom. The chapter reveals two types of narrative pluralism that may arise within the international criminal courtroom: first, inter-court narrative pluralism, which arises where judgments of different courts examine the same mass atrocity situation from different perspectives; and second, intra-court narrative pluralism, which arises where narratives constructed within an international criminal judgment are revisited in later cases adjudicated by the same court. The chapter also identifies a range of social psychological and practical factors that generate gaps between the intended meaning of judicially constructed narratives and their public or social meaning amongst different audiences beyond the courtroom.

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