ISSN: 1996-2118
Affiliations: University of North West, Potchefstroom
Source: South African Journal of Criminal Justice, Volume 28 Issue 1, p. 85 – 97
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ISSN: 1996-2118
Affiliations: University of KwaZulu-Natal
Source: South African Journal of Criminal Justice, Volume 28 Issue 1, p. 73 – 84
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ISSN: 1996-2118
Affiliations: Senior Lecturer, Department of Public, Constitutional and International Law, University of South Africa
Source: South African Journal of Criminal Justice, Volume 28 Issue 1, p. 59 – 72
This discussion explores the unique nature of gender-based violence and the need for courts to understand the intricacies in adjudicating these matters. The focus is on amicus curiae participation as a specific litigation strategy that could enable courts to focus on the relevant victims and their experience of violence. Specifically the amicus curiae participation in S v Zuma is considered as the matter is unique in its rejection of the relevant amici curiae participation focusing on the need and relevance of this method of participation in future criminal trials.
ISSN: 1996-2118
Affiliations: Associate Professor of Law, Faculty of Law, University of the Western Cape (UWC) and Research Fellow, Community Law Centre, UWC
Source: South African Journal of Criminal Justice, Volume 28 Issue 1, p. 40 – 58
On 1 April 2010 the South African Child Justice Act (CJA or the Act) commenced. The long title of the Act states, inter alia, that the purpose of the Act is ‘to establish a criminal justice system for children, who are in conflict with the law and are accused of committing offences, in accordance with the values underpinning the Constitution and the international obligations of the Republic’. The Act provides, inter alia, that a child who has committed any offence may be diverted from the criminal justice system. Case law has started emerging from South African courts dealing with some of the sections of the Act. The purpose of this article is to highlight how courts have interpreted or applied some of the sections of the Act.
ISSN: 1996-2118
Affiliations: Senior Lecturer in Law, University of the Free State
Source: South African Journal of Criminal Justice, Volume 28 Issue 1, p. 24 – 39
This article seeks to understand the roles of the two adversarial parties involved in the presentation and testing of forensic scientific evidence in criminal proceedings in South Africa, and to predict the future of challenging expert evidence in developing countries. The traditional roles of parties to an adversarial criminal trial are reviewed, with specific focus on the practice of challenging forensic scientific evidence presented by the prosecution, as are developments in the American legal system with reference to the effectiveness of challenging expert evidence presented by the prosecution. The possible impact of these developments on the future constitutionality of legal representation as practised in South Africa, is also briefly considered. The importance of reliable forensic scientific evidence employed in criminal proceedings necessitates not only the presentation of accurate forensic evidence by both adversarial parties, but also the informed cross-examination of opposing experts. This, in turn, demands equality in the adversarial battle, which, as it currently stands, does not exist in developing countries such as South Africa.