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Fact-Finding for Magistrates

NCJ Number
140230
Author(s)
M Stone; I McLean
Date Published
1990
Length
142 pages
Annotation
This book, intended primarily for British lay magistrates, provides such insight into the essential fact-finding processes of criminal trials as the authors have gained at the bar and on the bench in their combined experience with thousands of witnesses.
Abstract
The first chapter discusses the legal context of a criminal trial as essential background for the remainder of the book. Topics addressed are criminal procedure, rules that exclude evidence, requirements for proof, and criminal law. The second chapter explains how the real question of fact emerges, that is, whether the crime was committed or whether the accused was the offender. The discussion encompasses alternative defenses, classification of crimes, and identity as the real dispute. The next three chapters explain the advocate's role and techniques; among the topics discussed are professional standards, speeches, prosecution and defense evidence, clarity and persuasion, lead questions, controlled or free evidence, cross-examination, and re-examination. The next three chapters provide a full and original analysis of how mistakes and lies are detected, the key to fact-finding. Subjects addressed are the detection of mistakes, the lying witness, and the detection of lies from the evidence. A chapter on opinion evidence and one on circumstantial evidence show how facts may be inferred from other perceived facts. Another chapter is a survey of problems with witnesses that often arise in practice. The concluding chapter sums up salient features of the text as they arise in reaching the verdict.

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