About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

2 Current Issues Crim. Just. 37 (1990-1991)
The Abolition of Committal Proceedings

handle is hein.journals/cicj2 and id is 161 raw text is: THE ABOLITION OF COMMITTAL PROCEEDINGS John B. Bishop 1 Barrister-at-Law In a media release dated 18 February 1990 the New South Wales Attorney General, John Dowd MP, announced sweeping changes to committal procedures. According to the release, the changes will confer on the Director of Public Prosecutions a more significant role in the prosecution process and reduce delays in the courts. More particularly, the Director will enter the prosecution process from the outset, and in due course determine whether a person should be committed for trial. The changes will mean that a magistrate will no longer be able to discharge an accused or commit an accused for trial; the magistrate's role will be confined to presiding over a pre-trial hearing. If committal proceedings are properly described as a hearing before a Justice or Justices for the purpose of deciding whether a person charged with an offence should be committed for trial or for sentence,2 the effect of the government's decision will be not merely to change committal proceedings, but to abolish them. Accordingly, for the purpose of this paper, this is the primary issue to be addressed. A secondary, yet very important, issue concerns the format of the pre-trial hearing. The hearing is to be confined to the cross-examination of key witnesses. These witnesses fall into two groups: those that may be cross-examined by the accused as a matter of right; and those that may be so cross-examined with the approval of the magistrate, where there are reasonable grounds to suspect that cross-examination will affect either the assessment of the reliability of the witness or would elicit further material to support a defence.3 The former group of witnesses is confined to those identifying the accused, accomplices of the accused, indemnified witnesses, scientific experts, and witnesses examined by the prosecution or approved by the prosecution for cross-examination. The media release contemplates a decision to prosecute, or not to prosecute, by the Director of Public Prosecutions at the outset, and, where there is a pre-trial hearing, after its termination.4 Where he decided not to proceed to trial, he will make public his reasons. There are two other proposed reforms of note. First, legislation will be introduced to prevent unduly offensive, badgering or harassing questioning of witnesses. Second, the prosecution will be required to disclose to the accused not merely its case, but also other material helpful to the defence. These are subsidiary to the principal reforms, but are still very important. 1 Paper delivered at a public seminar entitled Committal for Trial and Pre-Trial Disclosure, convened by the Institute of Criminology, The University of Sydney, 11 April 1990 2 Justices Act 1902 s 3(l) (definition of committal proceedings) 3 Media Release, 18 February 1990, p2 4 Ibid at 1, 3

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most