Hitting criminals where it hurts: organised crime and the erosion of due process

The last few decades have seen a general drift to a more authoritarian criminal justice system in the United Kingdom. One way to understand this drift is in terms of a shift along the continuum from a concern with the defence of due process further towards a preoccupation with effective crime control. The tension between these two goals is central to the working of criminal justice. Due process is associated with concepts of justice, a fair trial and the rule of law. In particular it may be said to involve standards of proof meeting the criterion of beyond reasonable doubt, a duty of the prosecution to prove guilt to this standard, the defendant to be regarded as entirely innocent until this proof has been demonstrated and the defendants' right to silence, not to participate in their own incrimination. The general orientation of due process is the concern to ensure that innocent defendants are not convicted.

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