A Study of the Prosecutorial Obligation to Objectivity
Date Issued
2012
Date
2012
Author(s)
Guo, Jui-Juh
Abstract
Public prosecutors bear plenty of duties in modern world. As guardians of public interests, prosecutors have a duty of objectiveness, with a view to fulfilling their tasks impartially and objectively. Under such requirements, prosecutors are supposed to obtain and administer evidence in a way the truth can be found in a just and unbiased way, without referring to their personal likes or dislikes. The essence is to realize judicial justice and safeguard human rights. Nowadays the requirement has become an international consensus and a standard of criminal justice across different jurisdictions, not a mere slogan.
The purpose of the obligation of objectiveness is not only for the protection of personal privileges and rights, but also as a guarantee offered by a country to enforce the law impartially as well as to ensure the proceeding legitimacy. This duty enables the primary purposes of criminal procedure, i.e. human rights protection, truth-finding, and justice, to be realized in due course. In line with the universal value, this obligation conforms to the nature of a prosecutor serving as a judicial official as well as a supervisor of law enforcement. In this way, prosecutors are expected as objective guardians of law, who should practice law in their good conscience.
The prosecutors should understand well that, due to decent respect toward any parties to the procedure, they are restrained by special requirements coming from impartiality, objectiveness, and truth, in each stage of criminal proceedings. Prosecutors are not the enemies of defendants. They should not go all lengths, at any cost, just to discover the only one version of truth. They are not allowed to pursue merely unfavorable evidence against defendants. Favorable evidence for the defense should also be considered. In other words, the truth should be found in a way complying with justice and fairness. As a result, the image of the prosecutor will hopefully be improved, and the prosecutorial value is expected to be better appreciated.
Subjects
Obligation of Objectiveness
Refined Adversarial System
Advocates of Public Interests
Guardian of the Law
Unity of Prosecutors
Presumption of Innocence
Substantive Fact-Finding
Cross examination
SDGs
Type
thesis
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