La force particulière attribuée à l'aveu judiciaire civil procède, à l'origine, d'un rattachement contestable à la confessio in jure, qui constituait un acquiescement à la demande. Si l'on restitue à l'aveu sa dimension probatoire qu'avait dégagée le droit savant médiéval, il apparaît que la nature de l'aveu porte l'empreinte de la volonté alors que son régime est fortement influencé par la recherche d'une vérité par le juge. D'un côté, l'exigence d'intégrité et de liberté de la volonté d'avouer, en droit judiciaire privé comme en procédure pénale, donne à l'aveu la nature d'un acte juridique destiné à constituer une preuve, laquelle ne peut porter que sur un fait. Il est alors possible de distinguer les véritables aveux, qui procèdent d'une telle volonté, d'autres figures juridiques dans lesquelles l'aveu est retenu à titre de sanction contre le plaideur qui, en procédure civile ou en contentieux administratif, méconnaît l'imperium procédural du juge. De l'autre côté, la preuve constituée par l'aveu est toujours appréciée souverainement par les juges du fond. Si le juge judiciaire civil doit tenir le fait avoué pour acquis, c'est pour cette raison que l'aveu réalise la concordance des allégations des parties qui, en application du principe dispositif, interdit au juge de fonder sa décision sur un autre moyen de fait. L'irrévocabilité de l'aveu connait deux manifestations, l'une substantielle, par laquelle la preuve est définitivement constituée, l'autre procédurale, qui emporte l'irrecevabilité du moyen de fait contraire à l'aveu. L'indivisibilité de l'aveu peut être analysée comme procédant de la condition suspensive ou résolutoire dont cet acte juridique peul être affecté. / The strength of judicial civil confession is inherited from roman confessio in jure, that was however an admission of claim. Confession being held as an evidence since the medieval law, its nature wears the seal of will whereas its regime is mostly determined by search for the truth. On the one hand, requirement of a free will, both in civil and criminal procedures, grants confession the nature of a legal act intended to prove a fact. Thus genuine confessions can be distinguished from sanctions against litigants who disregard the judge’s imperium, in civil cases as well as in administrative cases. On the other hand, the weight of evidence brought by confession is always determined by the courts in their unfettered discretion. Obligation for civil jurisdictions to state only in consideration of the confessed fact relies on the principle of party disposition. Civil judicial confession 's legal irrevocability is both substantial, as the evidence is permanently constituted, and procedural, preventing the confessor to invoke an opposite allegation of fact. Confession's indivisibility can be analyzed as a result of the suspensive or resolutive condition under which this legal act can be granted.

Plea-bargaining and sentencing agreement is a worldwide phenomenon. Most of the jurisdictions more particularly in the so-called developed countries have adopted and incorporated into their criminal justice system the concept of plea-bargaining and sentence agreement. Same has properly been legislated and documented. In the United States for example, more than 80 per cent of the criminal matters are disposed of through plea-bargaining between the prosecution authority and the defendants. This system of disposing of criminal matters through plea-bargaining and sentence agreement has saved states resources and saved courts’ time. Although the system causes the accused to face a dilemma whenever he or she is supposed to make a choice between waiving his or her constitutional right to trial and pleading guilty. The plea-bargaining system has proved itself in many jurisdictions to be very efficient particularly in completing criminal cases without inordinate delays / Mini Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2019. / Government of Botswana / Procedural Law / LLM / unrestricted

The principal questions addressed in this portfolio of eleven publications concern the reforms to French justice at the end of the twentieth and beginning of the twenty-first centuries. The portfolio is accompanied by a supporting statement explaining the genesis and chronology of the portfolio, its originality and the nature of the submission's distinct contribution to knowledge. The thesis questions whether the reforms protect the rights of the defence adequately. It considers how the French state views its responsibility to key figures in criminal justice, be they suspected and convicted criminals, the victims of offences or the professionals who are prosecuting the offences. It reflects upon the role of the examining magistrate, the delicate relationship between justice, politics and the media, breaches of confidentiality and the catastrophic conditions in which suspects and prisoners are detained in French prisons. It then extends its scope to a case study of the prosecution of violent crimes before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, and discovers significant flaws in procedures even at international levels. In concluding, it asks whether, given the challenges facing the French criminal justice system, French courts are adequately equipped to assure justice when suspects charged with the most serious international crimes appear before them under the principle of universal jurisdiction. The research, carried out over a number of years, relies predominantly on an analysis of French-language sources and represents a unique contribution to the understanding and knowledge of French justice for an English-speaking public at the turn of the twenty-first century.

This research study analyzes whether or not there is any relationship between sentencing and conviction and certain defendant characteristics in the US legal system. In the midst of a time where the nation is strongly divided politically, the topic is often the center of research projects and discussions in academic journals. Specifically, this research explores the 3 characteristics- race, gender, and socioeconomic status. Within this article, multiple case studies from other journals are cited in which research and experiments have suggested that these factors do have influence on both whether or not a defendant gets convicted or for how long the defendant is sentenced. With these cases in mind, we try to test the theory for ourselves in a survey experiment amongst college students. The survey tests cases with instances of academic dishonesty in university with the defendant characteristics being manipulated for race, gender, and socioeconomic status. However, the results were inconclusive of any sort of link between those characteristics and the "sentencing" in the study.

El presente proyecto de investigación tiene como objetivo general establecer el criterio de fiabilidad para la admisión o exclusión de la prueba prohibida en el proceso penal peruano. Ahora bien, con relación a la metodología empleada es aplicada o tecnológica, de revisión documental, teórica y bibliográfica, utilizando las técnicas de la observación, la ficha textual y las pautas de análisis documental. Entre los resultados se comprende que, en ningún momento se pretende alentar la obtención de pruebas prohibidas en el proceso penal peruano, al contrario, la jurisprudencia contradictoria demuestra el desenvolvimiento desordenado e inconsistente de la regla de exclusión y sus excepciones, considerando que, estas últimas pretenden solucionar la problemática que subyace en la aplicación de la primera. Es por ello que, no debe operar la regla de exclusión, cuando sea manifiesta la realidad de los hechos materia de investigación y no exista duda acerca de su verosimilitud, de caber la duda, opera a favor del acusado, partiendo de la premisa que el Nuevo Código Procesal Penal (NCPP) es garantista no solo para el imputado, sino también para la parte agraviada, toda vez que, ningún Estado Constitucional de Derecho puede exceptuar a la persona de dicha garantía. / The general objective of this research project is to establish the reliability criteria for the admission or exclusion of prohibited evidence in the Peruvian criminal process. However, in relation to the methodology used, it is applied or technological, of documentary, theoretical and bibliographical review, using the techniques of observation, the textual record, and the guidelines of documentary analysis. Among the results it is understood that, at no time is it intended to encourage the obtaining of prohibited evidence in the Peruvian criminal process, on the contrary, the contradictory jurisprudence demonstrates the disorderly and inconsistent development of the exclusion rule and its exceptions, considering that the latter are intended to solve the problem that underlies the application of the first. That is why, the rule of exclusion should not operate, when the reality of the facts that are the subject of investigation is manifest and there is no doubt about its plausibility, if there is any doubt, it operates in favor of the accused, based on the premise that the New Criminal Procedure Code (NCPP) is a guarantee not only for the accused, but also for the aggrieved party, since no Constitutional State of Law can exempt the person from said guarantee.

El presente trabajo de investigación trata el requisito de apariencia de delito en la prisión preventiva y la categoría procesal de la evidencia como estándar probatorio para acreditarlo. Para tal efecto, bajo el método de análisis documental, conjuntamente con la técnica del fichaje, se revisan las instituciones jurídicas más importantes relacionadas. A partir de ello, se identifica la verdadera naturaleza de la prisión preventiva que responde a criterios de eficacia y criterios garantistas, manifestados en el peligro procesal y la apariencia de delito consecutivamente. Posteriormente, se analiza los elementos de convicción para acreditar apariencia de delito en la prisión preventiva bajo la categoría procesal de la evidencia, que exige ausencia de duda que después de realizada la audiencia de juicio oral el procesado será declarado culpable de la comisión del delito. Para tal efecto, los elementos de convicción que se utilicen serán consideradas auténticas pruebas en el proceso cautelar, cuya única deficiencia es que no han pasado los filtros de calidad que permite el control de acusación y el juicio oral. Asimismo, el estándar de la evidencia permite la discusión de las tres categorías del delito. / This research work deals with the requirement of appearance of crime in pretrial detention and the procedural category of evidence as a standard of proof to prove it. For this purpose, under the documentary analysis method, together with the signing technique, the most important related legal institutions are reviewed. From this, the true nature of preventive detention is identified, which responds to criteria of effectiveness and guarantee criteria, manifested in the procedural danger and the appearance of a crime consecutively. Subsequently, the elements of conviction are analyzed to prove the appearance of a crime in pretrial detention under the procedural category of evidence, which requires the absence of doubt that after the oral trial hearing the defendant will be found guilty of committing the crime. For this purpose, the elements of conviction that are used will be considered authentic evidence in the precautionary process, whose only deficiency is that they have not passed the quality filters that allow the control of the accusation and the oral trial. Likewise, the standard of evidence allows discussion of the three categories of crime.

Before 1994 criminal procedure was subject to the sovereignty of Parliament and the untrammelled law enforcement powers of the executive which resulted in the authoritarian and oppressive criminal justice system of the apartheid era. The Constitution, Act 108 of 1996 has since created a democratic state based on the values of the supremacy of the Constitution and the rule of law. The basic principles of criminal procedure are now constitutionalised in the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights protects the fundamental rights of individuals when they come into contact with organs of the state which includes the police. The Criminal Procedure Act 51 of 1977 authorises the police to search for and to seize articles, and has long provided the only legal basis for obtaining warrants to search for and to seize articles and for performing such actions without a warrant in certain circumstances. Generally the standard for these measures and actions taken under their purview has been one of reasonableness. Since the birth of the Constitution there has been additional constraints on search and seizure powers. Not only are there now constitutionalised standards by which such legal powers are to be measured, but there is also the possibility of excluding evidence obtained in course of a violation of a constitutional right. The provisions of the Criminal Procedure Act are now qualified by the Constitution. Where feasible a system of prior judicial authorisation in the form of a valid search warrant obtained on sworn information establishing reasonable grounds is a precondition for a valid search or seizure. Search and seizure without a warrant is permitted only in exceptional circumstances such as an immediate threat to person or property. By prohibiting unreasonable searches and seizures the Constitution places important limits on police efforts to detect and investigate crime. The Constitution appreciates the need for legitimate law enforcement activity. / Criminal and Procedural Law / LL.M.

Summaries in English and Afrikaans / The study explores the beliefs and wishes of respondents in Pretoria concerning crime seriousness and criminal sentencing in South Africa. It is suggested that in a democracy, the legal system must reflect the values of the individual citizen if it is to achieve a legitimacy based upon the concepts of moral consent and universality, and argues that this can only be achieved when all citizens have a voice. The study undertakes and reports on a survey of 400 units, across race divisions in and around the City of Pretoria by initially emulating, and thereafter extending, the British Crime Survey. The thesis offers seven chapters divided into two primary components. The first component, chapters one to four, systematically debate the historical/theoretical foundations of sentencing practice (both globally and in respect of South Africa), and identifies the inherent problems faced by contemporary criminal justice systems. The study utilises sentencing literature to provide an in-depth appraisal of theoretical paradigms and, thereafter, evaluates the successes and failures of various sentencing options. The second component, chapters five to seven, unpack the Pretorian research in relation to various other foreign research surveys, and culminates by offering a South African sentencing guide (severity index) based upon the research findings. The findings identify the people of Pretoria to be punitive. Respondents are shown to regard rape and driving whilst over the legal alcohol level causing the death of an innocent victim as the most serious crimes, followed by deliberate murder, selling illegal drugs and terrorism. Percentage differential between these "most serious" crimes is negligible. Many respondents indicate long prison sentences or the death penalty for these specific offences. Overall, Blacks prefer imprisonment whilst Whites are shown to be more conservative and more amenable to other sentencing options. Gender differences in relation to seriousness and sentence scores are slight, but females and the older age group are noted to be more fearful of being victimised even though this fear is not supported by actual victimisation rates. The study justifies the motivation fot the inclusion of public opinion into sentencing policy by recording a 72 percent positive response to people involvement in the sentencing of offenders. / Hierdie navorsing verken respondente in Pretoria se menings en verwagtinge aangaande die erns van misdaad en vonnisoplegging in Suid·Afrika. Die uitgangspunt is dat die regsplegingstelsel veronderstel is om die waardes van die gemeenskap te reftekteer, gebaseer op die konsepte van morele eenstemmigheid en universaliteit, en argumenteer dat dit binne 'n demokrattese bestel slegs kan realiseer as alle inwoners inspraak daarin het. Die navorsing en rapportering gaan oor 'n opname van 400 eenhede in en om die stad Pretoria oor rassegrense heen. Die Britse misdaadopname het as vertrekpunt gedien vir die ontwikkeling van die opname. Die tesis bestaan uit sewe hoofstukke wat verdeel is in twee hoofkomponente. Die eerste komponent, hoofstukke een tot vier, debatteer sistematies die histories/teoretiese begrondings van die vonnisopleggingspraktyk (beide globaal en ten opsigte van Suld-Afrika), en identifiseer die inherente probleme waarmee kontemporere strafregsplegingstelsels gekonfronteer word. Die navorsing gebruik vonnisopleggingsliteratuur om 'n in-diepte beoordeling te maak aan teoretiese paradigma om die sukses en mislukking van die verskillende vonnisopleggingaopsies te evalueer. Die tweede komponent, hoofstukke vyf tot sewe, behels die navorsing in Pretoria in vergelyking met verskeie ander buitelandse navorsingsondersoeke en bereik 'n hoogtepunt deur 'n Suid-Afrikaanse vonnisopleggingsgids (ernsindeks) voor te hou, gebaseer op die navorsingsbevindings. Die navorsingsbevindings identlfiseer respondente van Pretoria as strafgeorienteerd. Respondente beskou verkragting en bestuur van 'n motor terwyl die persoon se alkoholbloedinhoud oor die wettige perk is en die dood van 'n onskuldige slagoffer veroorsaak, as die ernstigste misdade. Dit word gevolg deur opsetlike moord, die handel in onwettige dwelmmiddels en terrorisme. Persentasie afwykings tussen die "ernstige" misdade is onbeduidend. Menige respondente is van mening dat lang termyne van gevangenisstraf of die doodsvonnis vir hierdie misdade toepaslik is. Oorhoofs gesien, verkies Swartmense gevangesetting, terwyl blankes meer konserwatief maar ook meer ontvanklik blyk te wees met betrekking tot ander vonnisopsies. Genderverskille in verhouding tot die erns- en die vonnistellings is gering, maar vroue en die ouer ouderdomsgroepe vertoon groter vrees vir viktimisasie, alhoewel hierdie vrees nie ondersteun word deur werklike viktimisasieratio's nie. Hierdie navorsing onderskryf die motivering vir die oorweging van die gemeenskapsmening in formulering van vonnisopleggingsbeleid met die resultaat dat 72 persent respondente gemeenskapsbetrokkenheid in die vonnisoplgeging voorstaan. ' / Criminology and Security Science / D. Litt. et Phil. (Criminology)

Increasing use is being made of various types of scientific evidence in court. The general requirement for the admissibility of such evidence is relevance. Although expert evidence is considered to be opinion evidence, it is admissible if it can assist the court to decide a fact in issue; provided that it is also reliable. In South Africa, the initial wide judicial discretion to either admit or exclude unconstitutionally obtained evidence, has developed into a more narrowly defined discretion under the final Constitution. Examples of scientific evidence, namely, DNA evidence, fingerprints, psychiatric evidence, bite-mark evidence and polygraph evidence are considered and problems inherent in the presentation of such evidence in courts in various jurisdictions are highlighted. An investigation of the presentation and evaluation of evidence in both the accusatorial and inquisitorial systems seems to indicate that the adversarial procedure has a marked influence on the evaluation of evidence / Criminal & Procedural Law / LL.M. (Law)

The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa guarantees every person a fair trial; the right to a fair trial right trial must begin and conclude within a reasonable time and without undue delay. Internationally the same guarantees and protections are available to unconvicted suspects. However, the South African criminal justice system lacks behind internationally and falls short of promoting these guarantees. Investigation was done on delays in commencing and finalising trials in light of constitutional provisions, the consequence and the impact of the delay with discussion on prison conditions and overcrowding with reference to the Constitutiton, legislation and case law. Delayed trial, prison overcrowding and poor prison conditions are still an issue in South Africa and there needs to be positive change to enforce and practice prescribed directives. South Africa‟s justice system through its servants, need to do more to gain a higher status of having a constitutionally democratic country that fully promotes‟ rights of detainees. / Criminal & Procedural Law / LLM