2.4 Assess key influences affecting the outcomes of criminal cases
Evidence
Evidence can be shown to the court by both sides, it is key to an outcome as the jury must
only take the evidence presented in front of them into account when deciding a verdict. The
two types of evidence are physical and testimonial, these types of evidence can be vital in
proving a defendant's innocence or guilt. There needs to be an adequate amount of
evidence to take a case to court, if there is not enough evidence provided to the CPS they
will not warrant a case going to court. The prosecution aims to prove the defendant is guilty.
This is known as the burden of proof. While the prosecution's focus is on the burden of
proof, the court focuses on the standard of proof. This is where the prosecution has to prove
‘beyond
reasonable doubt’ that the defendant is actually guilty. Jury members should be about 100%
certain the defendant is guilty, if the prosecution cannot prove this the defendant must be
acquitted. Physical evidence such as CCTV footage can have a major impact on the
outcome of a criminal case. This is due to the fact you can't argue with this sort of evidence
and it is factual, whatever is shown on the CCTV footage is true and will lead to a valid
outcome of a criminal case. This was shown in the case of the London Nail Bobmings,
where a total of three attacks using homemade nail bombs containing as many as 1500 four
inch nails were carried out across 13 days. The Metropolitan Police were able to identify a
suspect named David Copeland from CCTV footage of his second attack in Brixton.
Copeland was convicted of murder and given six life sentences. However, testimonial
evidence that is provided by witnesses or victims is not always factual. This is simply due to
the fact that these victims and witnesses are giving evidence from memory. Their
recollection of a crime could be altered from some factors such as speaking with other
witnesses or victims, each person could have a different story of what happened at a crime
scene which may influence another into using that same story in court. This can cause
evidence to be unreliable, leading to a wrongful outcome of a criminal case and therefore a
miscarrige of justice. (Link to brief where possible).
Barristers and legal teams
Legal teams usually consist of legally qualified personnel such as barrister and solicitors.
The solicitor will tell the barrister about the case and prepare papers and gather relevant
evidence for the barrister to use in court, in support of either the defence or prosecution.
Trials work on an adversarial system where the legal teams on both the defence and
prosecution try to persuade the jury to one side. Legal teams may encourage a defendant to
plead guilty to a lesser offence instead of pleading not guilty to a more serious offence, this
will result in a lesser sentence and shows the impact that a legal team can have on the
outcome of a criminal case. The top barristers and solicitors cost a lot of money, this is due
to the fact that the better the legal team is the more chance of getting a favourable verdict.
However, this can lead to wealthier suspects winning a court case or getting a more lenient
sentence as they have an unfair advantage, which may result in an incorrect outcome. This
was shown in the case of Don King who is a boxing promoter and killed two people in two
different incidents. His solicitor ‘Charles E.Lomax’ possessed superb argument skills and
Don King was sentenced to just four years in prison. (Link to brief where possible).
Evidence
Evidence can be shown to the court by both sides, it is key to an outcome as the jury must
only take the evidence presented in front of them into account when deciding a verdict. The
two types of evidence are physical and testimonial, these types of evidence can be vital in
proving a defendant's innocence or guilt. There needs to be an adequate amount of
evidence to take a case to court, if there is not enough evidence provided to the CPS they
will not warrant a case going to court. The prosecution aims to prove the defendant is guilty.
This is known as the burden of proof. While the prosecution's focus is on the burden of
proof, the court focuses on the standard of proof. This is where the prosecution has to prove
‘beyond
reasonable doubt’ that the defendant is actually guilty. Jury members should be about 100%
certain the defendant is guilty, if the prosecution cannot prove this the defendant must be
acquitted. Physical evidence such as CCTV footage can have a major impact on the
outcome of a criminal case. This is due to the fact you can't argue with this sort of evidence
and it is factual, whatever is shown on the CCTV footage is true and will lead to a valid
outcome of a criminal case. This was shown in the case of the London Nail Bobmings,
where a total of three attacks using homemade nail bombs containing as many as 1500 four
inch nails were carried out across 13 days. The Metropolitan Police were able to identify a
suspect named David Copeland from CCTV footage of his second attack in Brixton.
Copeland was convicted of murder and given six life sentences. However, testimonial
evidence that is provided by witnesses or victims is not always factual. This is simply due to
the fact that these victims and witnesses are giving evidence from memory. Their
recollection of a crime could be altered from some factors such as speaking with other
witnesses or victims, each person could have a different story of what happened at a crime
scene which may influence another into using that same story in court. This can cause
evidence to be unreliable, leading to a wrongful outcome of a criminal case and therefore a
miscarrige of justice. (Link to brief where possible).
Barristers and legal teams
Legal teams usually consist of legally qualified personnel such as barrister and solicitors.
The solicitor will tell the barrister about the case and prepare papers and gather relevant
evidence for the barrister to use in court, in support of either the defence or prosecution.
Trials work on an adversarial system where the legal teams on both the defence and
prosecution try to persuade the jury to one side. Legal teams may encourage a defendant to
plead guilty to a lesser offence instead of pleading not guilty to a more serious offence, this
will result in a lesser sentence and shows the impact that a legal team can have on the
outcome of a criminal case. The top barristers and solicitors cost a lot of money, this is due
to the fact that the better the legal team is the more chance of getting a favourable verdict.
However, this can lead to wealthier suspects winning a court case or getting a more lenient
sentence as they have an unfair advantage, which may result in an incorrect outcome. This
was shown in the case of Don King who is a boxing promoter and killed two people in two
different incidents. His solicitor ‘Charles E.Lomax’ possessed superb argument skills and
Don King was sentenced to just four years in prison. (Link to brief where possible).
