The Right To Silence In Transnational Criminal Proceedings

This book considers the effectiveness and fairness of using international cooperation to obtain confession evidence or evidence of a suspect or accused person’s silence across borders. This is a question of balance in limiting and protecting the right to silence. The functioning of the applicable law in Denmark, England and Wales and Australia is analysed in relation to investigative and trial measures such as police questioning, administrative questioning powers, covert surveillance and the use of silence as evidence of guilt.On the national level, this work examines the way in which domestic rules balance the right to silence in national criminal proceedings, and whether investigative and trial rules produce continuity throughout the criminal proceedings as a whole. From the transnational perspective, comparative legal analysis is used to determine whether the national continuity may be disrupted to such an extent that cooperation in the gathering of confession evidence causes unfairness. From the international perspective, this research compares the right to silence under the ICCPR and the ECHR to identify the overall effect of cooperating under particular human rights frameworks on the question of balance.

This book considers the effectiveness and fairness of using international cooperation to obtain confession evidence or evidence of a suspect or accused person’s silence across borders. This is a question of balance in limiting and protecting the right to silence. The functioning of the applicable law in Denmark, England and Wales and Australia is analysed in relation to investigative and trial measures such as police questioning, administrative questioning powers, covert surveillance and the use of silence as evidence of guilt.On the national level, this work examines the way in which domestic rules balance the right to silence in national criminal proceedings, and whether investigative and trial rules produce continuity throughout the criminal proceedings as a whole. From the transnational perspective, comparative legal analysis is used to determine whether the national continuity may be disrupted to such an extent that cooperation in the gathering of confession evidence causes unfairness. From the international perspective, this research compares the right to silence under the ICCPR and the ECHR to identify the overall effect of cooperating under particular human rights frameworks on the question of balance.

This book proposes and outlines a comprehensive framework for judicial protection in transnational criminal proceedings that ensures the right to judicial review without hampering the effective functioning of international cooperation in criminal matters. It examines a broad range of potential approaches in the context of selected national criminal justice systems, and offers a comparative analysis of EU Member States and non-Member States alike. The book particularly focuses on the differences between cooperation within the EU on the one hand and cooperation with third states on the other, and on the consequences of this distinction for the scope of judicial review.

The virtual obliteration of national boundaries, accompanied by the effective shrinking of the world, has given rise to a dramatic increase in the number of transnational criminal cases and an evident increase in the sophistication of international criminals. This collection of essays, written by practitioners directly involved with the emerging issues, presents the reader with international crime developments. It offers a foundation for continued discussion in this emerging field, and should be of interest to all those practising in transnational and international law.

This volume considers the way in which the focus on individual rights may constitute an obstacle to ensuring fairness in criminal proceedings. The increasingly cosmopolitan nature of criminal justice, forcing legal systems with different institutional forms and practices to interact with each other as they attempt to combat crime beyond national borders, has accentuated the need for systems to seek legitimacy beyond their domestic traditions. Fairness, expressed in terms of the right to a fair trial in provisions such as Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights, has emerged across Europe as the principal means of guaranteeing the legitimacy of criminal proceedings. The consequence of this is that criminal procedure doctrines are framed overwhelmingly in 'constitutional' terms – the protection of defence rights is necessary to restrict and legitimate the state's mandate to prosecute crime. Yet there are various problems with relying solely or predominantly on defence rights as a means of ensuring that proceedings are 'fair' or legitimate and these issues are rarely discussed in the academic literature. In this volume, scholars from the disciplines of law, philosophy and sociology challenge various normative assumptions underpinning our understanding of fairness in criminal proceedings.

This book analyses current developments in Europe and Latin America towards the greater involvement of the parties in the administration of criminal justice. Focusing on both national criminal proceedings and transnational cases, this study employs a comparative law approach to examine the shift experienced by Italy and Brazil from the long tradition of mixed criminal justice to unprecedented adversarial trends. The identification of common needs and divergences from the national approach to criminal justice paves the way for a subsequent analysis of new solution models emerging from international human rights law and EU law. To a great extent, these developments are due to the increasing impact of international human rights case-law on the criminal justice systems of the countries in question. The book concludes by proposing a set of qualitative requirements for a participatory model of criminal justice.

The protection of fundamental rights in the field of transnational criminal inquiries is of great delicateness in the current tangled web of domestic and international legal sources. Due to this complex scenario, this research has been carried out from a four-level perspective. The first part provides a critical analysis of the multilevel systems of protecting fundamental rights from the perspective of supranational and constitutional case law, and in the field of international and organized crime. The second part focuses on EU judicial cooperation in three main fields: financial and serious organized crime, mutual recognition tools, and individual rights protection. The third part provides the perspectives of ten domestic legal systems in two fields, i.e., obtaining evidence abroad and cooperation with international criminal tribunals. The fourth part analyses cross-border inquiries in comparative law, providing a reconstruction of different models of obtaining evidence overseas.

This book provides a comprehensive analysis of the presumption of innocence from both a practical and theoretical point of view. Throughout the book a framework for the presumption of innocence is developed. The book approaches the right to presumption of innocence from an international human rights perspective using specific examples drawn from international criminal law. The result is a framework for understanding the right that is grounded in human rights law. This framework can then be applied across different national and international systems. When applied, it can help determine when the presumption of innocence is being infringed upon, eroded, violated, and ensure that the presumption of innocence is protected. The book is an essential resource for students, academics and practitioners working in the areas of human rights, criminal law, international criminal law, and evidence. The themes also have a more general application to national jurisdictions and legal theory.