In legal dictionary, presumption of innocence is a term referring to fundamental principle for a person accused of a crime, which requires the prosecution to prove its case against the defendant beyond a reasonable doubt. This is a circumstances opposite from the criminal law in a lot of countries where the accused is considered guilty until proves innocent or the government fails to prove the case. In law of evidence and its rules of operation, Woolmington principle is one of the foundations. Therefore in criminal cases an automatic presumption of innocence is required to be drawn and accordingly on a charge of murder the accused is presumed to be innocent until the contrary is proved. Prosecution are require to prove that the caused of …show more content…
On the nature of Article 6(2) as incorporating a right that could be qualified. It was also stated that the ECHR required a balance to be stuck between the rights of an individual and the interests of the wider community. It however did aim to rule the circumstances in which the presumption was not applied and did this by stating that for a reverse burden to be legitimate there must be a compelling reason justifying reason why it is equitable and sensible to deny the defendant in the protection of the presumption of innocence.The number of factors that shall be taken into account in concluding whether a reverse burden was justified. These included the severity of the sanction, the practicalities of evidence and parliament’s intention in enactment of the statute. Whilst in initial cases the Court disputed this view and refused to put it to practice, in Attorney-General's Reference (No 4 of 2002) [2005], it was held that where the reverse burden infringes article 6 (2) only an evidential burden should be placed upon the …show more content…
Shall it be widely recognised as the fundamental rights? The answer is depends on the historical development of the presumption and and few supporting reasons will be discuss. It is established that modern state has the responsibility to maintain a criminal justice system for those wrongdoers that labelled as criminal offence. There must be a fair procedures in a ‘conviction by competent court’. The fairness involves giving due weight to the rights and fundamental right of an innocent person not to be convicted. It is argued that wrongly convicted is a deep injustice and moral harm to society. On respect for the fair trial, the best way is avoidance of these harm. Criminal justice system must be therefore strive to not impose conviction and sentence on innocent defendant. For many years, the decision made in Woolmington case sent out mixed message. It has enabled a distinction to be drawn between burden of proof and burden of evidential. But Viscount Sankey’s ‘golden thread’ dictum expressed a disposable of reference to statutory exception which may helped to induce lack of care and enshrines its value. Now the British court have an opportunity to retrieve the situation as there are in different position under exercise their power to be more
This is demonstrated in the case of R v Rogerson and McNamara where two former police officers, Roger Rogerson and Glen McNamara were convicted to life imprisonment based on the murder of Sydney student, Jamie Gao in 2014. Due to the nature of the law, the offenders presumption of innocence was upheld until their conviction in September 2016. Consequently, it created a tedious trial and sentencing process, where extortionate amounts of money were attributed to aspects, such as a judge and jury fees. Additionally, time is also a negative element in this instance where cases under the presumption of innocence, involve extensive hours of litigation and hence an increase in taxpayers
This case commentary discusses the different approaches used to be taken in Victoria and NSW, presuming that the admissibility of the Evidence in ss 97, 98 and 101 is of the same decision, not separate decision .
Subsequently, one of the main components of the procedural limitation is innocent until proven guilty, which brings about the right to a Grand Jury- a panel that determines whether or not there is a need to go to trial. As a result, a guilty verdict in criminal cases is determined with evidence that is sufficient and that must be proved “‘beyond a reasonable doubt’” (pg.131), so there is an immense need to increase the chances for the respect of “reasonable doubt” (pg.
Beauty pageants that involve children are a booming industry and growing fast in popularity. This is partially because of television shows like Toddlers and Tiaras and Living Dolls, which glorify pageants that threaten the innocence of childhood. According to Lucy Wolfe, “in 2011, three million children participated in pageants across the country” (454). With so many children, some as young as six months old, partaking in pageants and countless more aspiring to be pageant princesses, a closer look needs to be taken at the practices that are used to prepare them for the show. Often working long hours, not only prepping for the pageant but also performing in it, the children have no laws protecting them from being harmed or exploited. There are multiple negative effects associated with pageant participation law makers need to take action and find a way to regulate the trends of these controversial displays that sexualize young children.
This research paper will be used to acknowledge the trending factor in our criminal justice system of wrongful convictions. Wrongful convictions socially can be defined as convicting the innocent and punishing the not guilty. In other words, wrongful convictions play a huge part of our flawed Criminal Justice system. In order to fix and come up with a solution, we will have to first come to basis of first understanding the issue, then using this information to gain ideas to which we can apply to access better results to the issue of wrongful convictions. Once we come up with a reasonable solution to this problem then we can conclude that the data will show an eminent decrease in this trend. The causes of wrongful convictions include the “Snitch” Testimony, Eyewitness misidentification, false confessions and much more that I will add during the readings of this paper.
The Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for England & Wales. - Counsel [24] See footnote 22 – but page 61 [25] GEOFFREY, Marshall, Constitutional Theory, Clarendon Law Series, Oxford 1971 Chapter1 – the Law and the constitution, part 3. Dicey’s doctrine and its critics. [26] REGINA v HER MAJESTY'S TREASURY, Ex parte SMEDLEY, [COURT OF APPEAL], [1985] Q B 657, 19 December 1984, (c)2001 The Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for England & Wales [27] MITCHELL, JDB, Constitutional Law, 2nd edition, Edinburgh, W Green & SON LTD, 1968, Convention, page 31 [28] See footnote 22 but page 64
In criminal law the principle, presumed innocent until proven guilty is sometimes twisted and altered to presumed guilty until proven innocent in many wrongful conviction cases. Many factors go into the deliberation and reasoning behind an investigators, juries and courts verdict and occasionally their decision is actually wrong and an innocent person is locked up behind bars, to serve a sentence that they do not deserve because they are not a criminal. False confessions from an innocent suspect is very common in the interrogation room and by it is their own fault because they admit to being a part a crime they truthfully were not part of due to misleading questions or statements by the investigators. Another factor that could place an innocent person in prison is wrong scientific discoveries and false DNA evidence. Doctors sometimes misinterpret injuries and causes of death and this can really alter a case's outcome significantly. Finally, witnesses may report false sightings, or report something that they thought they heard but misinterpreted it entirely. More laws should be put into place to protect the innocent suspects, and to insure that nobody goes to prison that really does not deserve it and more citizens should be trained to accurately give a description of a suspect to decrease the wrongful conviction rate.
In the case of R v Oakes, the main topic dealt with the reverse burden of proof that was brought upon the accused, David Edwin Oakes. The issue that was
The statement "It is better that 10 guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer" summarises and highlights the mistakes and injustices in the criminal justice system. In a just society, the innocent would never be charged, nor convicted, and the guilty would always be caught and punished. Unfortunately, it seems this would be impossible to achieve due to the society in which we live. Therefore, miscarriages of justice occur in the criminal justice system more frequently than is publicised or known to the public at large. They are routine and would have to be considered as a serious problem in our society. The law is what most people respect and abide by, if society cannot trust the law that governs them, then there will be serious consequences including the possible breakdown of that society. In order to have a fair and just society, miscarriages of justice must not only become exceptional but ideally cease to occur altogether.
In Criminal cases, the general principle is that when it comes to proving the guilt of an accused person, the burden of proving this rests with the prosecution . In the case of Woolmington v DPP , it was stated in the judgment of Lord Sankey that; “Throughout the web of the English Criminal law one golden thread is always to be seen, that is the duty of the prosecution to prove the prisoner’s guilt subject to….. the defence of insanity and subject also to any statutory exception”. From the Judgment of Lord Sankey, the following circumstances where the accused bears the legal burden of proof in criminal cases were established; where the accused pleads the defence of insanity, where a statute or Act of Parliament expressly imposes the legal burden of proof on the defence, and where a statute or Act of Parliament impliedly imposes the legal burden of proof on the defence. An accused person will also bear the legal burden of proof of the statutory defence of diminished responsibility which is covered by section 2(2) Homicide Act 1957. In the cases of Lambert Ali and Jordan , the Court of Appeal held that imposing the legal burden of proof of proving diminished responsibility on the defence does not infringe Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
The English legal system is ostensibly embedded on a foundation of a ‘high degree of certainty with adaptability’ based on a steady ‘mode’ of legal reasoning. This rests on four propositions
This essay will examine the doctrine of Judicial precedent that helps form the English Legal System. It will illustrate various views that have been raised by Judges and relating cases to the use of ‘Stare decisis’ when creating precedents. In addition it will discuss how the developments in the powers of the courts now also allow them to depart from these precedents to an extent.
in criminal law and Beckett Ltd v. Lyons [1967] 1 All ER 833 the law
The doctrine of human rights were created to protect every single human regardless of race, gender, sex, nationality, sexual orientation and other differences. It is based on human dignity and the belief that no one has the right to take this away from another human being. The doctrine states that every ‘man’ has inalienable rights of equality, but is this true? Are human rights universal? Whether human rights are universal has been debated for decades. There have been individuals and even countries that oppose the idea that human rights are for everybody. This argument shall be investigated in this essay, by: exploring definitions and history on human rights, debating on whether it is universal while providing examples and background information while supporting my hypothesis that human rights should be based on particular cultural values and finally drawing a conclusion.
The courts of England and Wales acknowledge that the above must be something of value, in order to amount to consideration. A valuable consideration in the perspective of the English La...