The institute of cooperating defendant and crown witness in the light of the basic principles of criminal procedure law
Abstract
This paper deals with the cooperating defendant and crown witness in the context of some of the basic principles of criminal procedural law. In the first part it briefly discusses a phenomenon of organized crime and the necessity to fight against it, there is also emphasized the need of respecting the fundamental human rights and freedoms and the democratic legal principles and their possible restrictions.
The second part is focused on distinguishing the cooperating defendant and the crown witness. Subsequently, the attention is paid to these institutes in the light of some constitutional principles and the principles of criminal procedural law.
The aim of this paper is to answer the question whether these institutes can be considered as compliant with the principles of the rule of law.