| Criminal Defense; Sharing | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Fri 10 Jul 2009 22:27:24 (187 Views) | |
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Fri 10 Jul 2009 22:27:24 Post #1 |
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Criminal Defense One area which has tended to be left out of the “holistic” approach to criminal justice reform is support for criminal defense. Defenders work with defendants to ensure that the latter enjoy their right to due process. A strong defense propels judges and prosecutors to improve their own performance and keeps them accountable, leading to a ripple effect of improvement for the entire justice system. It also serves as a deterrent against abuse by police, prison and other authorities. It is part and parcel of ensuring fair trials in an environment where the presumption of innocence for those suspected of war crimes, crimes against humanity and other crimes under international law, at least in popular perceptions, is almost nonexistent.Nevertheless, support for criminal defense in international efforts to rebuild the justice sector has been markedly inadequate, particularly compared to the attention given to police, judges and prosecutors. In East Timor’s Special Panel for Serious Crimes,established to try perpetrators of the atrocities of 1999, the public defenders’ office was by far the weakest amongst the other pillars of the tribunal. It was initially staffed by Timorese lawyers who had no experience in litigation, until the “inequality between the inexperienced East Timorese defenders and the professional international prosecutors eventually became too obvious to ignore” for the UN mission Corrections Though widely recognized as one of the central pillars of the criminal justice system, correctional institutions have also been a victim of donor inattention,with consequences to human rights and the health of the justice system itself. A leading study of corrections in UN peace operations states that corrections “is that component of the criminal justice system which has the greatest impact on the freedoms,liberties and rights of individuals.” The Handbook on UN Multidimensional Peacekeeping Operations notes: “Without the capacity to provide humane treatment. |
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3:01 AM Jul 12