Adversarial or Inquisitorial

Abstract

The most extensive reforms in criminal justice probably took place during the last decade in England and Wales. Following well known miscarriages of justice as the Guildford Four (Jessel, 1994) and Birmingham Six (Gilligan, 1990), the commission chaired by Runciman proposed a host of legislation (Royal Commission on Criminal Procedure, 1993). The objective of all these reforms “has been to create a criminal justice process which is administratively efficient and minimizes the ‘risk’ of an adversarial trial,” Belloni and Hodgson (2000, p. 203) conclude. The Runciman Commission, according to its own contention, aimed at making mostly practical recommendations without a thorough theoretical basis, but admits that its recommendations “can fairly be interpreted as seeking to move the system to an inquisitorial direction” (Royal Commission on Criminal Procedure, 1993, p. 3). Would a turn to the inquisitorial system save the British?