NCJ Number
125970
Journal
Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology Volume: 81 Issue: 1 Dated: (Spring 1990) Pages: 99-135
Date Published
1990
Length
37 pages
Annotation
This analysis of Australian rules of criminal procedure focuses on the unsuccessful effort to enforce these rules through a discretionary approach to evidentiary exclusion and on the statutory reforms currently being considered in Australia.
Abstract
Australia has tried to use a balancing approach as the appropriate remedy for police violations of criminal procedure. Therefore, trial judges can exclude confessions that they believe to have low probative value but great prejudicial effect, to be unfair if used against the defendant and to be the result of unfair or unlawful conduct by the police. However, the judge must balance the desirability of convicting the offender against the undesirability of approving unlawful police conduct, and judges have shown little inclination toward deterring police misconduct through evidentiary exclusion. However, the Australian States have largely adopted a statutory approach to regulating police, and Federal legislation may be imminent. Similarly, the United States should develop a national code of criminal procedure that safeguards constitutional rights and provides clear rules for the police. 207 footnotes.