Defendant participation in the criminal process book review

Johnston, Ed

Abstract

Abenaa Owusu-Bempah’s book, Defendant Participation in the Criminal Process, argues that the growing obligation for the defendant to participate in the criminal process lacks justification. The first half of the book creates a normative theory that the defendant should not be compelled to actively assist the State in its pursuit of a conviction. The second half applies this theory to criminal procedure of England and Wales by examining the defence disclosure obligations, the right of silence and the privilege against self-incrimination. The book is only concerned with what Owusu-Bempah calls ‘active participation.’ Therefore, the book centres on something “that involves mental effort or voluntary physical movements on the part of the defendant, which results in the production of information” (p.2). Passive participation, such as submitting to arrest, search or detention in custody, is not the focus of the book (p.2). The rationale for this exclusion centres on the idea that the increase in requirements to ‘actively participate’ is a relatively new creation, which has far-reaching consequences for both the defendant and the adversarial landscape of England and Wales.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 1, 2018
• Publication Date: May 1, 2018
• Deposit Date: Apr 20, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: May 1, 2019
• Journal: Criminal Law Review
• Print ISSN: 0011-135X
• Publisher: Sweet and Maxwell
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 2018
• Issue: 5
• Pages: 418-421
• Keywords: criminal procedure, adversarialism, defendant participation, managerialism
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/868497
• Additional Information: Additional Information : This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced version of an article accepted for publication in Criminal Law Review following peer review. The definitive published version [ Johnston, Ed (2018) Defendant participation in the criminal process book review. Criminal Law Review, 2018 (5). pp. 418-421. ISSN 0011-135X Available from: http://eprints.uwe.ac.uk/35845] is available online on Westlaw UK or from Thomson Reuters DocDel service .
• Contract Date: Apr 20, 2018