Adjudicative Criminal Procedure: A Comparative Approach, First Edition

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Adjudicative Criminal Procedure: A Comparative Approach, First Edition picks up Chapters 1 and 10 through 18 from the author’s casebook, Criminal Procedure: A Comparative Approach, First Edition. It explores the full “due process” criminal trial with all the guarantees afforded in the U.S. by the Sixth Amendment rights to a speedy trial by an impartial jury representing a fair cross-section of the community. Included in these rights are the defense’s right to confront and cross-examine the witnesses in open court and the due process rights to pretrial release, discovery, the presumption of innocence, and proof beyond a reasonable doubt. The Sixth Amendment is compared with Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which is virtually identical except for the right to jury trial.
 
The book also focuses on the disappearance of the full “due process” trial due to more or less coercive forms of plea bargaining, which compel both the guilty and innocent to give up all of their trial rights. It shows how the classic jury trial in the U.S. is distinguished from most other European countries in its approach to the presentation and evaluation of evidence, its stance on the right to confrontation and admissibility of hearsay, its rejection of reasoned judgments, and its approach to double jeopardy and the finality of judgments. Particular emphasis is placed on the difficulty in ensuring impartial juries in the U.S. and on how the rules of trial and evidence fail to prevent the conviction of the innocent.

Benefits for instructors and students:

• Cases and other excerpted materials: A wealth of interesting and well-edited cases, both U.S. and international, providing material for comparative analysis and stimulation for classroom discussion.
• U.S. Law Notes: Supplements to the excerpted seminal cases, discussing nuances in the prevailing approach and divergences among states which accord more protection than the U.S. Supreme Court.
• Discussion: Provocative questions and information, designed to encourage students and instructors to identify the similarities and differences between U.S. and foreign law, and to discuss which approaches may be the preferred ones.
• Online Appendix: A wealth of high court opinions and statutory law, for those students or instructors who wish to delve deeper into a particular area, who are enrolled in classes that are not heavily focused on U.S. law, or who need additional resources for writing papers.
• Glossary of Terms and Concepts Translated from French, German, Italian, Russian and Spanish: Important information (especially helpful for non-U.S. students) to help clear up potential terminological confusion.
• Further Reading (U.S. and Comparative): Chapter-end suggestions for books and articles (each list focusing exclusively on U.S. or comparative law), related to the issues discussed in the chapter.
• Materials on Confrontation, which is usually taught in Evidence classes in the U.S., are included.