All rise for the interventionist: The judiciary in the 21st century

Johnston, Ed

Abstract

This paper will examine the changing role played by the judiciary in criminal trials. The paper examines the genesis of the adversarial criminal trial that was born out of lifting the prohibition on defence counsel in trials of treason. The paper will chart the rise of judicial passivity as lawyers dominated trials. Finally, the paper examines the rise of the interventionist judiciary in the wake of the Auld Review that launched an attack on the inefficiencies of the modern trial. To tackle the inefficiencies, the Criminal Procedure Rules allowed the judiciary to reassume a role of active case management. The impact an interventionist judiciary has for adversarial criminal justice is examined. The paper finds that a departure from traditional adversarial has occurred; the criminal justice process has shifted to a new form of process, driven by a managerial agenda.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 14, 2016
• Online Publication Date: Jun 10, 2016
• Publication Date: Jun 1, 2016
• Deposit Date: Jul 13, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 13, 2016
• Journal: Journal of Criminal Law
• Print ISSN: 0022-0183
• Electronic ISSN: 1740-5580
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 80
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 201-213
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0022018316647870
• Keywords: criminal procedure rules, adversarialism, managerialism, judiciary
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/920255
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0022018316647870
• Contract Date: Jul 13, 2016