NCJ Number
91905
Date Published
1980
Length
32 pages
Annotation
An analysis of prosecution evidence in 394 charges to which defendants pleaded not guilty in English magistrates' courts suggested that the few disputes over voluntariness of statements and the more common disputes over the authenticity of incriminating statements took up only a minor portion of trial time.
Abstract
The sample of contested trials was drawn from three courts in London and three in provincial cities during January to June 1979. Most charges entailed offenses of dishonesty, alleged assault, and public order. There was direct evidence implicating defendants in the alleged crime in three-quarters of the cases, and the remaining charges were brought on circumstantial evidence. Full confessions were introduced as evidence in only 13 percent of the cases and damaging statements which fell short of confessions in an additional 16 percent. In the remaining cases, 40 percent made no statement and 32 percent denied the charge. The high conviction rate of 75 percent is consistent with the majority of charges being brought on direct evidence implicating the defendant or circumstantial evidence supported by a confession or damaging admission. Confession evidence invariably resulted in conviction, but a strong relationship also existed between conviction and eyewitness evidence. Thus, few contested cases came before the magistrates with weak evidence, and confessions were not needed in a majority of the cases. Approximately half the written and oral statements were disputed by defendants during the trial who usually denied oral statements made to police or alleged that physical force or inducement influenced written statements. Trials within trials to resolve these disputes occurred infrequently and took less than an hour's time. Tables, footnotes, and 10 references are supplied.