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

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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