scholarly journals The defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt in the Italian criminal justice system

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 1227
Author(s):  
Francesco Callari

O standard penal do Beyond A Reasonable Doubt (BARD) constitui uma regra de prova e de juízo, formulada e aplicada durante séculos em jurisdições de common law, que foi expressamente introduzida no Código de Processo Penal italiano apenas cerca de quinze anos atrás. Infelizmente, o conceito de dúvida razoável é inerentemente complexo e não se presta facilmente a uma definição ou a uma melhor delimitação. Diante disso, o autor examina sobretudo as diferentes posições e elaborações desenvolvidas pela doutrina e pela jurisprudência na Itália, oferecendo uma interpretação específica da regra BARD que valoriza e completa as conotações processuais particulares do sistema acusatório adotado na justiça penal italiana.

Author(s):  
Armando Saponaro

This chapter outlines the “conflict” and “peace-keeping” victim-oriented justice paradigms. The latter empowers the victims of crime, putting them at the center of an encounter and using interindividual mediation or collective circles to address conflict resolution. Two models are critically discussed in the conflict victim-oriented justice paradigm. The European continental “visible victim” model structures the role of the victim as a full-fledged processual party together with the public prosecutor and offender. In this model, the victim has the same rights and powers of the defendant. The “invisible victim” common law model views the victim as a trial witness, participating, for example, through a victim impact statement (in the United States) or victim personal statement (in the United Kingdom) at the sentencing stage. The visible victim conflict paradigm model enhances a victim's role and involvement in the criminal justice system, offering a solution to existing controversial and critical common law system issues.


1977 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 136-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerald D. Robin

Forcible rape is unique among crimes in the manner in which its victims are dealt with by the criminal justice system. Raped women are subjected to an institutionalized sexism that begins with their treatment by the police, continues through a male-dominated criminal justice system influenced by pseudo-scientific notions of victim precipitation, and ends with the systematic acquittal of many de facto guilty rapists. The codification of sexism centers in the legal elements involved in proving guilt and obtaining convictions. In effect, the law's focus upon corrob oration, consent, and character has established a standard of proof in rape cases that is more stringent than "beyond a reasonable doubt." Nonetheless, the processing of rape victims by the criminal justice system is gradually becoming more sensitive, facilitative, and reflective of the trauma experienced by the women involved. The legal position toward the crime is also becoming less sexist and more responsive to the realities involved in sexual assault. Both of these changes have come about through the efforts of the women's liberation movement. The most promising means for achieving more humane and dignified treatment of rape victims in the arms of the law have been "rape crisis centers." This approach to eliminating institutionalized sexism surrounding forcible rape has been significantly aided and abetted by successful attempts to modify the basic definition of the crime and to revise the legal elements needed for conviction.


2006 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 623
Author(s):  
Peter Wright

This article critiques the Criminal Proceeds and Instruments Bill 2005 which introduces a civil forfeiture regime for the proceeds of serious criminal offending. By using a civil forfeiture regime, many of the protections normally granted to criminal defendants are not available, which makes successful action by the State easier. This article argues that the Bill's civil forfeiture regime risks seriously abrogating individuals' rights, including those arising from the requirement for proof beyond a reasonable doubt and the prohibitions on double jeopardy and retrospective punishment. The article concludes that the confiscation of criminals' assets should take place within the criminal justice system to ensure that there are proper protections for defendants.


Author(s):  
David Baxter Bakibinga

The concepts of prosecutorial independence, discretion and strategy are considered the cornerstones of an effective and efficient criminal justice system under common law. To this end the state of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas amended its national constitution and established an independent office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP). The ODPP must have appropriate policy-legal and organizational frameworks to enable it enhance its independence from the office of the Attorney General (AG). This paper explores how the constitutional framework promotes the independence of the ODPP Bahamas and any claw backs. A comparison is made with other independent ODPPs such as Uganda. The last part of the paper examines strategies adopted by ODPP Bahamas that are meant to enhance prosecutorial independence and discretion.


Author(s):  
Adrian Keane ◽  
Paul McKeown

This chapter discusses the circumstances in which relevant evidence can be excluded, as a matter of law or discretion, on the grounds that it was obtained illegally, improperly, or unfairly. The principles for exclusion of evidence are considered, and exclusion in both civil and criminal cases discussed. In respect of civil cases, discretionary exclusion under the civil procedure rules is discussed. In respect of criminal cases, discretionary exclusion at common law and under statute is discussed. The chapter also considers the circumstances in which criminal proceedings should be stayed as an abuse of the court’s process, where a trial would undermine public confidence in the criminal justice system and bring it into disrepute.


2007 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 153-180
Author(s):  
Peter Duff

This article describes the recent development of a common law doctrine of disclosure in Scottish criminal procedure when, as little as 10 years ago, the prosecution had no legal duty to disclose any information to the defence prior to trial. Further, it is argued that this transformation has the potential to move the Scottish criminal justice system further from its adversarial base towards a more inquisitorial model.


2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sofyan Wimbo Agung Pradnyawan ◽  
Hartiwiningsih , ◽  
Hari Purwadi

<p>Abstract<br />This article intends to analyze the use of the jury system in the criminal justice system of Indonesia, jury is a form of lay participation or the participation of lay that community of professional non-law in the the role of judges is absolute in the criminal justice process, in the legal system of modern states today dichotomy between legal systems tradition of common law or civil law is fading and towards the tendency make changes conceptually to the criminal justice system, so that the judicial process drab dominated the role of judges is great where law and justice seems to be the monopoly of a judge, the role of judges research using law approach, conceptual, and comparative law. The results of this study is that morality is the essence of a sense of justice in society, morality can not be separated from the law, because morality is is what is considered correct by the general public, so the public will view the law as something that has no authority and can not be trusted, when morality is left in any decision of the judge in criminal judicial institutions that exist, because the inclusion of jury in the criminal justice system to prosecute local is the living law in automatically entered in every decision, every decision so it is possible to better meet the sense of justice in society.</p><p>Keyword: jury, society, the criminal justice system</p><p>Abstrak<br />Artikel ini bermaksud menganalisis mengenai penggunaan sistem peradilan jurypada sistem peradilan pidana Indonesia, jury adalah wujud dari lay participation atau partisipasi awam yaitu masyarakat dari professional  non hukum  didalam  peradilan, untuk  memberikan putusan  yang lebih  memenuhi  rasa keadilan didalam masyarakat, untuk menghindari peran hakim yang absolut dalam proses peradilan pidana, dalam sistem hukum negara-negara modern saat ini dikotomi antara sistem hukum tradisi common law atau civil law semakin memudar dan menuju kecenderungan untuk mencampurkan kedua sistem hukum tersebut demi menemukan keadilan substantif dalam proses peradilan. Indonesia tidak pernah melakukan perubahan secara konseptual pada sistem peradilan pidananya, sehingga proses peradilan yang menjemukan yang didominasi peran hakim yang besar dimana hukum dan keadilan seolah-olah aspek hukumnya dalam mengadili, Penelitian hukum ini menggunakan pendekatan perundang-undangan, konseptual, dan perbandingan hukum. Hasil penelitian ini adalah bahwa moralitas adalah esensi dari rasa keadilan didalam masyarakat, moralitas tidak bisa dipisahkan dari hukum, sebab moralitas adalah adalah apa yang dianggap benar oleh masyarakat secara umum, sehingga masyarakat akan memandang hukum sebagai sesuatu yang tidak memiliki wibawa dan tidak dapat dipercaya, saat moralitas ditinggalkan didalam setiap putusan hakim didalam peradilan pidana. Memasukkanjury didalam sistem peradilan mampu meningkatkan tingkat kepercayaan masyarakat terhadap hukum dan institusi peradilan yang ada, sebab dengan dimasukkannya jury didalam sistem peradilan pidana untuk mengadili dalam aspek <br />the living law secara otomatis masuk didalam setiap putusan, sehingga dimungkinkan setiap putusan lebih dapat memenuhi rasa keadilan didalam masyarakat.</p><p>Kata kunci: jury, masyarakat, sistem peradilan pidana</p>


2014 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 297 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brenda Midson

In a number of jurisdictions failure to protect a child from violence renders a person liable if a duty is owed to the child. This duty presumes the defendant has the capacity to act positively to protect the victim, which has implications for defendants who are also subjected to violence or coercion. In the understandable haste to prosecute and prevent child abuse, there is a risk of neglecting the realities of other vulnerable people. Consequently the criminal justice system ought to reject a binary approach to victims and offenders, recognising that defendants may also be victims and that mothers, due to the coercive control exerted by intimate partners, may also be vulnerable. In New Zealand there are no statutory or common law defences that operate to exculpate a mother charged with failing to protect her child from the violence of another. This article argues for the creation of an affirmative defence that takes into account the totality of a coerced mother's circumstances in considering whether she has, in fact, failed her child.


2013 ◽  
Vol 14 (9) ◽  
pp. 1889-1908 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kerstin Braun

Historically, victims of crimes were key participants in the prosecution of crimes around the globe. Over the centuries, however, as public police and prosecution service took over the prosecution of criminal acts, the importance of victims in criminal justice systems decreased in common law and civil law countries alike. The victim was sidelined and the victim's role was reduced to that of a witness for the prosecution. As one of the first scholars to comment on the absence of victims from the criminal justice system, William Frank McDonald referred to the victim as “the forgotten man” in criminal procedure.


Author(s):  
Mike McConville ◽  
Luke Marsh

This chapter focuses on how Rules hatched in England which governed police–citizen relations helped shape the justice apparatus of occupied states and the actions of officials administering them. In restructuring the relationship of criminal suspects and police to the criminal justice system, English judges rolled out defective procedures, which remain part of the fixture and fittings of those jurisdictions still burdened by the colonial inheritance. This chapter will reveal how senior judges, whether sitting in the Privy Council in London or reposing in the highest courts of former colonial outposts, continue as legal missionaries proselytizing the common law and overseeing the implementation of rules, discredited and long-discarded back home.


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