NCJ Number
188783
Journal
Howard Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 40 Issue: 2 Dated: May 2001 Pages: 114-125
Editor(s)
Tony Fowles,
David Wilson
Date Published
May 2001
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This article reviews the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996 introducing a new approach to pretrial disclosure and the extent to which the institutional impartiality demanded by the Act has been translated into practice.
Abstract
The Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act (CPIA) 1996 serves to demonstrate the extent to which the Royal Commission on Criminal Justice was influenced by pressure from the police and others with a crime control agenda to change the existing disclosure process largely dictated by the defense. The CPIA introduced a regime for advance disclosure that was at odds with the operational practices of police officers, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and defense solicitors. An examination of the various stages of the new procedure suggested that the effectiveness of the process was undermined at all stages by those involved. Discretion in matters of disclosure was largely returned to police officers, which came with evidence of flawed supervision of the process by both the police and CPS. As a consequence, errors resulted in a system, which presented real risks of future miscarriages of justice.