Package includes:

Online CPD Module  l  Electronic booklet  l  PowerPoint Presentation

Package Fee (incl GST)

• $145 - NZLS members and Associate members
• $195 - Non-members

Note: Access to the online files is via your "My CPD" page. If you would like to purchase multiple packages, please contact us here.

Online CPD Module

The Right to Silence is fundamental both under the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 and at common law. This seminar will consider the key developments in this area on a practical level and will provide the benefits of both prosecution and defence perspectives.

This seminar will include:

• A discussion on, that the right to silence is at risk. That there are increasing calls for limitations of this right. Such suggestions generally arise after harrowing and highly publicised child-abuse cases, which often portray families of the victim as stonewalling police investigations
• A discussion on that the right to silence, is a cornerstone principle of fair trials. Historically, it reflects the common law moving away from torture and forced confessions. Today, however, the right to silence materialises as a fundamental fair trial right. This right needs to be safeguarded
• A discussion on how the right to silence protects the concept of “innocent until proven guilty.” Changes to this right would drastically impact rights of defendants in criminal trials. Specifically, it will negatively impact society’s most vulnerable
• Improvement in lawyers’ knowledge of the importance of this right and the dangers of minimising it.

Learning objectives

By attending this seminar you will:

• Understand the role of the right to silence in the broader picture of a fair trial. This right is fundamental to the adversarial justice system and cannot be viewed within a vacuum from the broader criminal justice system.
• Know the role that media outlets and political figures play in advancing arguments against the right to silence.
• Appreciate the necessity of the right to silence through observing the limited right and adverse inferences doctrine in overseas jurisdictions.

Electronic paper 

Authors: Marie Dyhrberg QC, Jo Murdoch
Published: 30 March 2021
Pages: 12 + PowerPoint slides

Introduction

There is no introduction for this publication.

PowerPoint Presentation

These are the slides included in the presentation.