In most countries the detection of crime is the responsibility of the police, though special law enforcement agencies may be responsible for the discovery of particular types of crime (e.g., customs departments may be charged with combating smuggling and related offenses). Crime detection falls into three distinguishable phases: the discovery that a crime has been committed, the identification of a suspect, and the collection of sufficient evidence to indict the suspect before a court. Many crimes are discovered and reported by persons other than the police (e.g., victims or witnesses). Certain crimes—in particular those that involve a subject’s assent, such as dealing in illicit drugs or prostitution, or those in which there may be no identifiable victim, such as obscenity—are often not discovered unless the police take active steps to determine whether they have been committed. To detect such crimes, therefore, controversial methods are sometimes required (e.g., electronic eavesdropping, surveillance, interception of communications, and infiltration of gangs).
The role of forensic science
Forensic science plays an important role in the investigation of serious crimes. One of the first significant achievements in the field was the development of techniques for identifying individuals by their fingerprints. In the 19th century, it was discovered that almost any contact between a finger and a fixed surface left a latent mark that could be made visible by a variety of procedures (e.g., the use of a fine powder). In 1894 in England the Troup Committee, a group established by the Home Secretary to determine the best means of personal identification, accepted that no two individuals had the same fingerprints—a proposition that has never been seriously refuted. In 1900 another committee recommended the use of fingerprints for criminal identification. Fingerprint evidence was first accepted in an Argentine court in the 1890s and in an English court in 1902. Many other countries soon adopted systems of fingerprint identification as well.
Fingerprinting was originally used to establish and to make readily available the criminal records of individual offenders, but it quickly came to be widely used as a means of identifying the perpetrators of particular criminal acts. Most major police forces maintain collections of fingerprints that are taken from known criminals in order to identify them later should they commit other crimes. The FBI, for example, reportedly held millions of prints in its electronic database at the beginning of the 21st century. Fingerprints found at crime scenes thus can be matched with fingerprints in such collections.
Historically, searching fingerprint collections was a time-consuming manual task, relying on various systems of classification. The development in the 1980s of computerized databases for the electronic storage and rapid searching of fingerprint collections has enabled researchers to match prints much more quickly.
Although the science of fingerprinting is popularly perceived as error-free, some critics have charged that it is not an exact science—in part because prints are rarely pristine when gathered at a crime scene—and that some defendants have been convicted on the basis of mistaken fingerprint identification. For example, in 2004 the FBI used a fingerprint to link Brandon Mayfield, an American attorney, to a train bombing in Madrid; however, he was vindicated after a review revealed that the fingerprint, used to obtain a warrant for his arrest, did not belong to him. According to the British standard, if a set of fingerprints found at a crime scene is incomplete, it may be said to match another set (e.g., a set stored in a fingerprint database) if the two sets share at least 16 characteristics. However, no particular number of characteristics is accepted everywhere, and some jurisdictions require as few as 12 characteristics to reach a conclusive identification.
A broad range of other scientific techniques are available to law enforcement agencies attempting to identify suspects or establish beyond doubt the connection between a suspect and a crime. Since becoming reliably available in the late 1980s, DNA fingerprinting of biological evidence (e.g., hair, sperm, and blood) can exclude a suspect absolutely or establish guilt with a very high degree of probability. Many other substances, such as fibers, paper, glass, and paint, can yield considerable information under microscopic or chemical analysis. Fibers discovered on the victim or at the scene of the crime can be tested to determine whether they are similar to those in the clothing of the suspect. Documents can be revealed as forgeries on the evidence that the paper on which they were written was manufactured by a technique not available at the time to which it allegedly dates. The refractive index of even small particles of glass may be measured to show that a given item or fragment of glass was part of a particular batch manufactured at a particular time and place. Computer networks allow investigators to search increasingly large bodies of data on material samples, though the creation of such databases is time-consuming and costly.
Suspect identification
The modus operandi, or method, used by a criminal to commit an offense sometimes helps to identify the suspect, as many offenders repeatedly commit offenses in similar ways. A burglar’s method of entry into a house, the type of property stolen, or the kind of deception practiced on the victim of a fraud all may suggest who was responsible for a crime.
Visual identification of a stranger by the victim is often possible as well. The police generally present victims or witnesses who believe that they can recognize the offender with an album containing photographs of a large number of known criminals. A suspect identified in this manner is usually asked to take part in a lineup of people with similar characteristics, from which the witness is asked to pick out the suspect. However, researchers have long known that eyewitnesses often are unreliable and that most wrongful convictions have been the result of erroneous eyewitness identifications. Scholars have suggested that cross-racial identification contributes to mistaken identification, in that members of one race may have difficulty distinguishing members of another race. Likewise, post-event assimilation, the process by which witnesses incorporate new information after the incident, can significantly alter the perception of the criminal. Finally, the stress of a crime in general, and the presence of a weapon in particular, diminish the reliability of eyewitnesses as well.
In addition, such researchers have been concerned that criminal-justice officials could manipulate standard eyewitness identification procedures in order to increase the likelihood that a witness would identify a particular suspect. In the past, criminal-justice officials generally resisted implementing reforms in procedures that would increase the accuracy of the identifications, as the reformed procedures would reduce the probability that an eyewitness would make any identification at all. But the increasing accuracy of DNA evidence in the late 1990s led to considerable publicity about erroneous convictions based on standard eyewitness identification procedures, particularly in cases that resulted in a death sentence. At the beginning of the 21st century, police agencies had begun to implement the more-careful procedures that eyewitness researchers had proposed. These procedures include not encouraging witnesses to make identifications when they are unsure but instead cautioning them about the possibility of errors, making sure nonsuspects in the lineup are reasonable possibilities for identification, and having the lineup conducted by an official who does not know who the actual suspect is.
Gathering evidence
To gain a conviction in countries where the rule of law is firmly rooted, it is essential that the investigating agency gather sufficient legally admissible evidence to convince the judge or jury that the suspect is guilty. Police departments are often reasonably certain that a particular individual is responsible for a crime but may remain unable to establish guilt by legally admissible evidence. In order to secure the necessary evidence, the police employ a variety of powers and procedures. Because those powers and procedures, if exercised improperly, would enable the police to interfere with the constitutionally protected freedoms of the suspect, they are normally subject to close scrutiny by legislation or by the courts.
One important procedure is the search of a suspect’s person or property. Most common-law jurisdictions allow a search to be carried out only if there is “probable cause for believing” or “reasonable ground for suspecting” that evidence will be found. In some cases a person may be stopped on the street and searched, provided that the police officers identify themselves and state the reasons for the search. In the United States a person stopped on the street may be patted down for a weapon without the police’s having any evidence whatsoever. A search of private premises usually requires a search warrant issued by a magistrate or judge. The law generally permits a search warrant to be issued only if the authorities are satisfied (after hearing evidence under oath) that there is good reason to suspect that the sought-after evidence, which the warrant usually defines specifically, will be found on the premises. The warrant may be subject to time limits and normally permits only one search. In most countries the judge or magistrate who issues the warrant must be informed of the outcome of the search. Materials seized as a result of a search under the authority of a search warrant are usually held by the police for production as exhibits at any subsequent trial.
In the United States any evidence discovered as a result of a search that does not comply with the procedures and standards laid down by the courts and legislative bodies is not admissible in court, even if it may clearly establish the guilt of the accused person. Because it may prevent the conviction of a person who is guilty, this doctrine, known as the exclusionary rule, has given rise to controversy in the United States and has not generally been adopted in other countries. The exclusionary rule has been particularly important in drug cases, where the materials seized (i.e., the drugs themselves) often are the only evidence against the defendant; according to the U.S. Department of Justice, adherence to the rule has resulted in the dismissal of about 1 percent of drug cases. However, since its decision in United States v. Leon (1984), the U.S. Supreme Court has adopted several “pro-prosecution” modifications of the exclusionary rule, including a somewhat limited “good faith” exception for the police. That is, if the police attempted to uphold constitutional requirements for the search but made an honest mistake, then the evidence may be admissible at trial even if some constitutional requirements were not met.
Interrogation and confession
An important aspect in the investigation of offenses is the interrogation of suspects. The aim of the questioning is usually to obtain an admission of guilt by the suspect, which would eliminate the need for a contested trial. Most countries place restrictions on the scope and methods of interrogation in order to ensure that suspects are not coerced into confessions by unacceptable means, though in practice the effectiveness of those restrictions varies greatly. In the United States, for example, suspects must be informed that they have certain rights, including the right to remain silent, to have a lawyer present during the interrogation, and to be provided with the services of a lawyer at the expense of the state if they cannot afford one. The statement of rights that is read to suspects, known as the Miranda warnings, was established in the case of Miranda v. Arizona (1966). Failure to advise a suspect of those and other rights can result in the rejection of a confession as evidence.
In contrast, British law focuses on whether the confession itself was voluntary, rather than on whether proper procedures were followed by the police. With minor exceptions, a person suspected or accused of a criminal offense is not required to answer any question or to give evidence. For many years the English law on confessions consisted of a simple rule prohibiting the introduction at trial of any involuntary statement made by an accused person. That rule was supplemented by more-detailed rules governing the questioning of suspected persons by the police, known as the Judges’ Rules. Principally, the Judges’ Rules obliged the investigating police officer to caution suspects that they were not required to answer any question and that anything they did say might be given in evidence at trial. That caution was required to be stated at the beginning of any period of interrogation and immediately before a suspect began to make a full statement or confession. Failure to provide a caution at the right time or in the right form did not necessarily mean that the statement would be excluded from evidence, but trial judges did have the discretion to exclude the evidence. The operation of the Judges’ Rules was a source of controversy for many years; in the mid-1980s they were reformed by a comprehensive series of provisions. The reforms, which were supplemented by detailed codes of practice, allowed a confession to be admitted into evidence provided that it was not obtained by oppression of the person who made it (e.g., by torture, inhuman or degrading treatment, the use or threat of violence, or excessively prolonged periods of questioning) or as a result of anything said or done that would be likely to render the confession unreliable.
Other countries generally have similar legal requirements, though the actual practices in those countries may be quite different. Russia, for example, has a rule on confessions that is quite similar to the Miranda warnings, while in China a suspect has the legal right to remain silent, there is no legal penalty for the refusal to answer questions, and police are forbidden to obtain confessions through the use of force. However, in practice, police in some countries sometimes use physical force to obtain confessions, and such illegally obtained evidence is not excluded at trial.
For full treatment of trial procedures prior to sentencing, see criminal law and procedural law.
The court system
This section provides a summary of the court systems of various countries. The criminal procedures of a court system reflect the history and culture of the country in which they developed. There are many variations between different countries—and even between different jurisdictions within the same country—regarding the way in which criminal cases are brought to trial. For more details, see court and procedural law: Criminal procedure.
Anglo-American countries
The decision to prosecute
In countries where the legal system follows the English common-law tradition, the function of prosecution is usually distinguished from that of investigation and adjudication. In most countries the prosecution is performed by an official who is not part of either the police or the judicial system; a wide variety of terms have been used to designate this official (e.g., district attorney in the state jurisdictions of the United States, procurator-fiscal in Scotland, and crown attorney in Canada). The prosecutor may be an elected local official (as in many jurisdictions in the United States) or a member of an organization responsible to a minister of the national government.
Generally, the prosecutor first assesses the information collected by the investigators to determine whether sufficient evidence exists to justify criminal proceedings. In common-law systems the prosecutor usually is entrusted with extensive discretion in deciding whether to institute criminal proceedings. That discretion arises in part out of the ambiguity of the criminal law; frequently a statute defining a particular criminal offense does not make absolutely clear what kind of behavior it is intended to cover or includes a much wider range of circumstances than it was intended to prohibit. In such cases, the prosecutor must decide whether the case falls within the intended scope of the law. Changing societal attitudes toward particular kinds of behavior may mean that, although a criminal prohibition remains on the statute books, it no longer reflects the sentiment of the community, and the prosecutor is no longer expected to bring charges against people who violate it. In other cases, laws may be enacted without the usual exemptions from responsibility for those who commit the act unintentionally (offenses of strict liability). In such cases, the prosecutor may nevertheless feel justified in not bringing proceedings against those who are technically guilty but appear morally innocent.
