GUIDELINES FOR PROSECUTORS
Pursuant to section 12 of the Director of Public Prosecutions Act 1990 the following guidelines are provided to Deputy and Assistant Directors and prosecutors who institute or conduct prosecutions on behalf of the Director:1. All lawyers appearing for the prosecution should be conscious of the ethical obligations imposed on them by virtue of that role. The essence of those obligations is encapsulated in the following passage extracted from the rules of the New South Wales Bar Association
“A barrister appearing for the Crown in a criminal case is a representative of the State and his function is to assist the court in arriving at the truth. It is not his duty to obtain a conviction by all means but fairly and impartially to endeavour to ensure that the jury has before it the whole of the relevant facts in intelligible form and to see that the jury is adequately instructed as to the law so as to be able to apply
the law to the facts. He shall not press for a conviction beyond putting the case for the Crown fully and firmly. He shall not by his language or conduct endeavour to inflame or prejudice the jury against the prisoner (sic). He shall not urge any argument of law that he does not believe to be of substance or any argument of fact that does not carry weight in his mind.”
(Rule 20)
2. It has long been an axiom of the criminal law that “justice delayed is justice denied”. Consequently, it is incumbent upon prosecutors to cooperate in ensuring that cases are heard as quickly as practicable.
In the Magistrates Court a hearing date is frequently allocated even though the brief of evidence has not been received by the prosecution. In that events steps should be taken to ensure that the brief is received within 28 days of the date upon which the hearing date was allocated so that the case may be properly assessed. It is not appropriate to permit charges to remain pending against members of the community when it has not been possible to make any sensible assessment of the adequacy of the evidence or as to the necessity for such a prosecution.
If the brief is not delivered within a reasonable period the matter should be relisted with the view to having the hearing date vacated. In that event it will, of course, be necessary to have a further hearing date allocated once the brief has been received and the matter assessed.
Where committal proceedings have been completed and a person committed for trial in the Supreme Court a Bill of Indictment should be found within 28 days of the committal.
3. The specific approval of the Director is required for the finding of any ex officio Bill of Indictment where the offence charged differs substantially from the offence or offences in respect of which the accused was committed for trial or where the circumstances giving rise to the offence were not the subject of any committal for trial.
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ANNUAL REPORT 2011-12 DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS 78
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