NCJ Number
82448
Date Published
1981
Length
254 pages
Annotation
The United Kingdom's Royal Commission on Criminal Procedure presents recommendations on the investigation of offenses and the prosecution of offenders.
Abstract
Regarding the investigation of offenses, the majority of the Commission views the pretrial process as having two distinct but interdependent phases. The police should have primary responsibility in the investigative phase and the Crown prosecutor in the prosecutorial phase. This division of responsibility is seen as providing a safeguard for the liberty and rights of any person involved with the criminal justice system. The investigative phase requires certain police powers, but they should be used only on suspicion based upon reasonable grounds that a criminal offense has been committed and that the person against whom they are used has committed a criminal offense. Persons making decisions to use police powers to intrude upon a person's privacy and liberty should record the reasons for their decisions, and they should be capable of review. The police function as investigators continues at least until they have obtained sufficient evidence to accuse a named person of a specified offense or to dismiss him/her from investigation. Beyond the point of accusation, responsibility for the conduct of prosecutions should be given to the Crown prosecutor. Currently, the police bring the great majority of prosecutions. There is evidence that this system produces weak cases and a relatively high percentage of acquittals. The case for separating the investigation and prosecution phases in different agencies can be argued on the ground that the investigator is incapable of making a dispassionate decision about prosecution. Detailed accounts of the Commission's work are appended, and a subject index is provided, along with extensive footnotes.