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Obstacles to Fairness in Criminal Proceedings: Individual Rights and Institutional Forms

Contributors

John D. Jackson
Editor

Sarah J. Summers
Editor

Abstract

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.

Citation

Jackson, J. D., & Summers, S. J. (Eds.). (2018). Obstacles to Fairness in Criminal Proceedings: Individual Rights and Institutional Forms. Oxford: Hart Publishing. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781782258384

Book Type Edited Book
Acceptance Date Apr 1, 2016
Online Publication Date Feb 26, 2018
Publication Date Mar 22, 2018
Deposit Date Oct 12, 2020
Publisher Hart Publishing
ISBN 9781782258353
DOI https://doi.org/10.5040/9781782258384
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1345179
Publisher URL https://www.bloomsbury.com/au/obstacles-to-fairness-in-criminal-proceedings-9781782258353/