Avoiding Delays In Criminal Trials

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30542, 10 September 1964, Page 3

Avoiding Delays In Criminal Trials

(From Our Parliamentary Reporter) WELLINGTON, September 9. The Summary Proceeding’s Amendment Bill, designed to speed the processes of the Courts, was given a second reading by Parliament this evening.

The bill will enable an accused person to be brought to speedier trial by allowing him to be dealt with at a current session of the Supreme Court rather than having the case wait for the next session as at present. Dr. A. M. Finlay (Opp., Waitakere) said that in Auckland one session was running uncompleted into the next and it was the belief that the Supreme Court should abolish the sessional pattern and sit permanently on criminal cases. The Minister of Justice (Mr Hanan) said the present procedure under which a person on bail could only be dealt with at the next session of the Supreme Court derived from the grand jury system, now abolished, when the jury determined, at the beginning of each session, the cases for trial. This change would not mean

that the time allowed for a lawyer to prepare his case for the defence would be whittled down, he said. Formal Evidence Since the bill was originally introduced, the Law Society and Auckland magistrates had proposed other amendments. These included provision for prosecution evidence, such as formal medical evidence, to be heard in another court with the agreement of the defendant. The Law Society had also proposed an amendment by which bail could be varied by application to a magistrate, avoiding the more cumbersome procedure of application to the Supreme Court. To avoid undue delays in obtaining release from prison on bail when a surety has been arranged, the bill also provided for the superintendent of a prison to sign a bail bond.