CURRENT LEGAL PROBLEMS LECTURE SERIES 2012-13

Truth, Efficiency and Co-operation in
Modern Criminal Justice 

by

Professor Jenny McEwen
University of Exeter 

Chaired by Professor David Ormerod,
QMUL & Law Commission

on Thursday 1 November 2012, from 6-7pm

Venue:
UCL Law Faculty
Bentham House, Endsleigh Gardens
London WC1H 0EG

Accredited with 1 CPD hour by the
Solicitors Regulation Authority and the Bar Standards Board (Pending)

About this lecture:

In England and Wales, a developing system of judicial criminal case management, devised in the first instance to impose efficiency on an overloaded criminal justice system, has shown little sympathy with defence lawyers’ traditional emphasis on the interests of the client and the nature of client’s instructions if the consequence at trial of such allegiance is the defence employing ‘ambush’ or taking ‘technical’ points.  This new ethos is producing a distinctly less adversarial system, in which the court takes a pro-active role. The procedural framework was designed partly to encourage early resolution of proceedings, and to enable more accurate estimations of trial length and better management of court lists. What is striking, however, is that the drive for cost-effectiveness is coupled with a new approach to criminal litigation in which the parties are to co-operate in reaching a managed verdict reflecting the process vision of the truth. This lecture will consider the consequent effect on defence obligations in the light of claims that the new system is consistent with the presumption of innocence, the privilege against self-incrimination and the right to legal assistance as protected by Article 6; this necessitates discussion of the extent to which accuracy of outcome, efficiency and protection of fair trial rights are compatible objectives. 

About the speaker: 

Jenny McEwan has been Professor of Criminal Law at Exeter University since 1999, having previously taught at Manchester and Keele Universities.

She is the author of many publications, including Evidence and the Adversarial Process: the Modern Law (Hart Publishing, 1998) and The Verdict of the Court: Passing Judgment in Law and Psychology, (Hart Publishing, 2003). She is the General Editor, International Journal of Evidence and Proof (Vathek).

Her current area of interest is in the relationship between criminal process and managerialism. In 2009 – 10 (with Fae Garland) she carried out a British Academy-funded empirical study, the results of which will shortly be published in the International Journal of Evidence and Proof. Papers from a BA-funded workshop with the project were published in (2010) 14.2 International Journal of Evidence and Proof.