Admitting evidence by agreement: recalibrating managerialism and adversarialism in Crown Court criminal trials

THOMASON, MATT

Abstract

This paper challenges the orthodox academic view which assumes that the admissibility of evidence in Crown Court criminal trials is primarily regulated by rules of evidence. Instead, it offers an account, based on original empirical data (trial observations and interviews with trial counsel), which suggests that a significant amount of evidence is admitted after negotiation and agreement between the adversarial parties. The article uses bad character evidence as a lens through which to examine the wider phenomena of ‘agreed evidence’, and analyses reasons for the high level of agreement found in the study. It then sets these findings in the broader context of increasing managerialisation of criminal trials, and the ‘adversarial’ system of England and Wales. Some implications for rights of defendants and witnesses are also considered.

Citation

THOMASON, M. (2021). Admitting evidence by agreement: recalibrating managerialism and adversarialism in Crown Court criminal trials. Criminal Law Review, 2021(9), 727-752

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 10, 2021
• Publication Date: 2021-09
• Deposit Date: Jul 15, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 30, 2021
• Print ISSN: 0011-135X
• Electronic ISSN: 0011-135X
• Publisher: Sweet and Maxwell
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 2021
• Issue: 9
• Pages: 727-752
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/5785591
• Publisher URL: https://uk.westlaw.com/Document/I5AB4FC40F71011EBA0E7B72A4547540F/View/FullText.html?navigationPath=Search%2Fv1%2Fresults%2Fnavigation%2Fi0ad6ad3a0000017b77813a57e6d4ba4d%3Fppcid%3De607d4ef94ff4ec9a9f621720a5328a4%26Nav%3DUK-JOURNALS-PUBLICATION%26fragmen
• Additional Information: This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced version of an article accepted for publication in Criminal Law Review following peer review. The definitely published version Admitting evidence by agreement: recalibrating managerialism and adversarialism in Crown Court criminal trials / Dr Matt Thomason, Crim. L.R. 2021, 9, 727-752 is available online on Westlaw UK.