[GA—AT VOTE—FOR] Repeal: "Procedural Rights of Defendants"

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Repeal: "Procedural Rights of Defendants"
Category: Repeal | Target: GA#706
Proposed by: Lieutenant Columbo | Onsite Topic​
Recognizing the need that a criminal justice system seeks the impartial truth and exercises cautious judgement,

Upholding the sanctity of suspects' and defendants' rights,

Recognizing that the needs of the public versus the liberties of the accused must be carefully measured to acquire that truth by which member states reach justice,

Disappointed that GAR #706, "Procedural Rights of Defendants", extends well past the balance of these values by guaranteeing defendants the ability to pick and choose which questions they give testimony for,

Concerned that the pursuit of the truth is not only stymied but frustrated as GAR #706 enables defendants to block up their own trials, answering or not answering questions according to whatever whim prevails them, including such fundamental questions as:
  • the identity of the defendant,
  • whether the defendant has chosen counsel and the identity of the defendant's counsel,
  • whether the defendant understands the charges brought against them, and
  • how the defendant pleads to a criminal charge,
Recognizing the preexisting right of defendants not to self-incriminate as guaranteed by GAR #37, "Fairness in Criminal Trials",

Further concerned by the allowance of "reasonable interrogation tactics" to produce defendant testimony, which leaves open the likelihood that prosecutors, frustrated at defendants' ability to stonewall the prosecution's line of questioning while answering their own counsel's questions at length, will seek to apply whatever interrogation technique available to them short of torture in order to get answers on the court record,

Distraught that, in the same vein, the target may by its limitations encourage prosecutors to increasingly rely on practices and tools of dubious merit such as body language experts as a substitute for forthcoming defendant testimony,

Convinced of this body's ability to better render the necessary protections for suspects experiencing police interrogation without the aforementioned obstructions to court procedure,

The World Assembly hereby repeals GAR #706, "Procedural Rights of Defendants".
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Note: Only votes from TNP WA nations, NPA personnel, and those on NPA deployments will be counted. If you do not meet these requirements, please add (non-WA) or something of that effect to your vote. If you are on an NPA deployment without being formally registered as an NPA member, name your deployed nation in your vote.
Voting Instructions:
  • Vote For if you want the Delegate to vote For the resolution.
  • Vote Against if you want the Delegate to vote Against the resolution.
  • Vote Abstain if you want the Delegate to abstain from voting on this resolution.
  • Vote Present if you are personally abstaining from this vote.
Detailed opinions with your vote are appreciated and encouraged!
ForAgainstAbstainPresent
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Overview
Repeal: "Procedural Rights of Defendants" seeks to repeal GA#706 in order to replace it with more effective language.

Recommendation
The arguments made here soundly demonstrate the fact that GA#706 is simply a poor resolution, while it does attempt to do good. Among other things, GA#706 in many cases prevents the court from verifying basic information about the defendant and their counsel, and may prevent allowing a fair trial to proceed. Additionally, the fluff in GA#706 does overlap with pre-existing protections in other GA resolutions that make some terms of this resolution redundant.

For this reason, we recommend a vote FOR Repeal: "Procedural Rights of Defendants".

This IFV Recommendation was written by Vapid in collaboration with the Ministry of World Assembly Affairs.
 
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[Non-WA]

In favor, in particular the point about how the target (embarrassingly) allows defendants to simply not identify themselves in a court of law is enough for me.
 
For. A lot of issues regarding various loopholes.

Refer to the original resolution debate here:

forum.thenorthpacific.org

[GA, Passed] Procedural Rights Of Defendants

Procedural Rights Of Defendants Category: Civil Rights | Strength: Strong Proposed by: The Steam-Gardens | Onsite Topic The World Assembly, Noting that member states undertake criminal proceedings to determine whether someone accused of a crime is guilty of committing it, Believing that the...
forum.thenorthpacific.org forum.thenorthpacific.org
 
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