Criminal Cases in the NSW (New South Wales) District Court - A Pilot Study (From Criminal Injustice System, P 106-145, 1982, John Basten et al, eds. - See NCJ-93089)

• NCJ Number: 93093
• Author(s): N Stevenson
• Date Published: 1982
• Length: 40 pages
• Sale Source: Australian Legal Workers Group (NSW)
• Language: English
• Country: Australia

Annotation

This pilot study conducted under the auspices of the New South Wales Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research in 1980 examined police-defendant encounters and assessed the importance of the interrogation process upon the later stages of the case.

Abstract

Relying on the district court daily lists, the study sample covered all persons charged with indictable offenses who had their cases addressed by the Sydney District Court from November to December 1979. The vast majority of defendants (96 percent) made confessions or damaging statements when interviewed by the police, a much higher rate than reported by any overseas study. The single most important factor affecting the decision to plead guilty was found to be the nature of the confessional evidence against the accused. Although written confessions were less common than verbal confessions, in nearly 80 percent of the cases, there was evidence of written or oral and written confessions. Those charged with more serious offenses more often supplied incriminating statements, and the defendants generally confessed within a relatively short time of initial police contact. Further, the type of confessional evidence (oral, written, oral and written) presented at trial correlated with the overall rates of guilty and not-guilty verdicts (defendants who allegedly made verbal confessions only were more often acquitted). In all the trial cases, the Crown relied on police witnesses, and in the overwhelming majority of cases, the police witnesses gave evidence of alleged admissions by the accused. A substantial proportion of trial time was spent contesting confessional evidence, and in only one trial case in which a voir dire was held to determine the admissibility of the confessional evidence did the accused succeed in having the evidence excluded. Finally, it was found that few defendants obtained legal advice prior to or during the police interrogation. There can be little doubt from the findings that the questioning of the suspect while in police custody and the Crown evidence of the encounter is of critical importance in determining the case outcome. Further research in this area is needed. Eighty-four notes are provided.