Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 The Criminal Process and the Pursuit of Truth
- 2 Allegations
- 3 Confessions
- 4 Witness Testimony
- 5 Truth and the Probity of Evidence-Gathering
- 6 Decisions and Narratives: Factfinding and Case Construction
- 7 Truth and the Criminal Trial: Competing Stories
- 8 Truth, Sentencing and Punishment
- 9 Restoration, Reconciliation and Reconceptualizing Justice
- 10 The Truth, the Whole Truth and Nothing but the Truth: The Truth of Who Is to Blame
- List of Cases
- References
- Index
1 - The Criminal Process and the Pursuit of Truth
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 December 2021
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 The Criminal Process and the Pursuit of Truth
- 2 Allegations
- 3 Confessions
- 4 Witness Testimony
- 5 Truth and the Probity of Evidence-Gathering
- 6 Decisions and Narratives: Factfinding and Case Construction
- 7 Truth and the Criminal Trial: Competing Stories
- 8 Truth, Sentencing and Punishment
- 9 Restoration, Reconciliation and Reconceptualizing Justice
- 10 The Truth, the Whole Truth and Nothing but the Truth: The Truth of Who Is to Blame
- List of Cases
- References
- Index
Summary
‘Clive has dedicated his 35 year career to unearthing the truth.’ So begins the preface to the autobiography of Clive Driscoll, a former Detective Chief Inspector with the Metropolitan Police (Driscoll, 2015). Driscoll is probably best known for leading the investigation that resulted in the conviction of two of the men responsible for the death of Stephen Lawrence. Criminal investigations and the entire criminal process culminating in the criminal trial are regularly characterized as a pursuit of the truth:
Underlying the question of guilt or innocence is an objective truth: the defendant, in fact, did or did not commit the acts constituting the crime charged. From the time an accused is first suspected to the time the decision on guilt or innocence is made, our criminal justice system is designed to enable the trier of fact to discover the truth according to law. (Burlington v Missouri 451 US 430 (1981))
In Jones v National Coal Board [1957] 2 QB 55 Denning LJ (as he then was) identified that the judicial role ‘above all, is to find out the truth’ (p 63). The same point was made by the US Supreme Court in Tehan v United States ex rel. Shott 382 US 406 (1966): ‘The basic purpose of a trial is the determination of the truth’ (p 416). It was reiterated by Marvin E. Frankel, who sat as a judge of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York between 1965 and 1978 and was a key figure in the development of sentencing guidelines in the United States, who wrote: ‘Trials occur because there are questions of fact. In principle, the paramount objective is the truth’ (Frankel, 1975, p 1033).
In Jones v National Coal Board [1957] 2 QB 55 Denning LJ contrasted the adversarial system developed by common law countries with the inquisitorial system: ‘In the system of trial which we have evolved in this country, the judge sits to hear and determine the issues raised by the parties, not to conduct an investigation or examination on behalf of society at large, as happens, we believe, in some foreign countries’ (p 63). The case concerned a claim brought by the widow of a coal miner killed in a mining accident.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Criminal Justice and the Pursuit of Truth , pp. 1 - 18Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2021