L'admission des confessions et le risque d'erreur judiciaire : toute vérité est-elle bonne à dire ?
The study of our "common Law" reveals that the Canadian and English courts were constantly called upon in order to decide on the admissibility of elements of proof involving the participation of the defendant in the assertion of his guilt. Whether it is confessions obtained from a suspect during a police interrogation, or the testimony given by a defendant during the course ofthe legal process (for example, at the time of a trial of an accomplice or a first trial for which the verdict was cancelled by a court of appeal), we notice that the State regularly tried to prove the guilt of a defendant by way of his own statements. We generally try to justify the recourse to this method of obtaining proof by invoking that the statements made by a defendant are by far the best proof of his guilt and thus help the judge to uncover the truth. It appears, however, that over the years the State often abused this power and that ensuing convictions were sometimes obtained with a disregard of the rights of the defendants; in particular, the right to a fair trial and the right even more fundamental not to be constrained to provide against his will, a proof likely to establish his guilt in his own trial. In addition, many legal updates in the recent years in Canada c1early show that verdicts of guilt were also incorrectly pronounced against defendants on the faith of confessions which were later proved to he false. As such, it appears important to determine ifthis type ofproofretains its legitimacy today in regards to two of the great theories of criminallaw: the "Theory of Risk Management" and the "Theory of Justice" or the equity of the trial. More generally, this study seeks to answer the following question: "In Canadian criminallaw, does the end (search for the truth) justify the means used to uncover it?"
Admission des confessions Ruses policières Criminal Law Admission of Confessions Police Tricks Search for the Truth Fair Trial Wrongful Convictions