Standard 6

Be fair and firm in court

We will be fair and firm in court.

Managing trials

Prosecutors who speak in court (called Advocates) have to do the right thing.

You can find out what we expect Advocates to do in court in the National Standards of Advocacy.

Read the National Standards of Advocacy on our website.

6.1. Before going to court the Advocate:

1. Reads the case file to make sure they are ready.
2. Talks about the case with the police officer.
3. Works out what they will say to the court.

The Advocate explains the crime to the court at the start of the trial.

4. Works out the questions they will ask the defence witnesses.

This is called cross-examination.

5. Writes down the legal reasons for what they are going to say to the court.
6. Sometimes the trial takes longer than a day.
   
   Then the Advocate decides in which order the Prosecution witnesses will give evidence.

This means that the witnesses know when they have to be in court and they don't have to turn up every day.

6.2. The Advocate goes to the court before the trial.

The Advocate meets the witnesses and:

1. Tells the witnesses who he is.
2. Shows them their statement so that they can remember what they said.

3. Tells them what will happen during the day.

   If the witness needs special help to give evidence the Advocate will talk about it.

4. Answers questions from the witnesses if the law allows them to.

   Sometimes the Advocate asks a person from the witness service to do this.

6.3. The law says that Advocates cannot talk to witnesses about their evidence.

The law says that the Advocate cannot tell the witness about other people's evidence.

6.4. During the day at court the Advocate:

1. Talks to the court in an open and honest way and does the right thing for justice.

   The Advocate wants justice more than they want to be shown to be right.

2. Lets witnesses know if there is a delay and what caused the delay.

3. Acts respectfully to witnesses and defendants.

   Asks the court to stop the defence lawyer asking questions that are not allowed for the witness.

4. Asks the court if the Prosecution Witnesses can leave the court when they have finished.

6.5. The Advocate also:

1. Makes sure the evidence is ready to show the court.
2. Makes sure all the witnesses are ready to tell the court what they saw.
3. Makes any final changes to papers when they are asked to by the court.

6.6. At the end of the trial the court may say that it believes the defendant did the crime (is guilty).

Then the Advocate helps the Judge or magistrate think about how to punish (sentence) the defendant.

The Advocate also talks to the Judge or magistrates about if the defendant should stay in prison until they have decided what the sentence should be.

Dealing with defendants who say they did the crime (plead guilty)

6.7. Sometimes a defendant is charged with more than one crime.

Sometimes defendants say they did some of the crimes but not others.

Or they may say they did a different crime because they think the crime happened in a different way.

This often happens just before the trial begins.

When this happens we:

1. Ask the victim or the victim's family what they think.

2. Make sure that the different crime can be punished in a way that matches how bad the crime is.

   We make sure the defendant's idea about what happened is not harmful to the victim.

   If the Advocate and defence lawyer disagree about the charge they can ask the court to make the decision.

3. If the defence lawyer and the Advocate agree a different crime happened, or they agree the crime happened in a different way, they have to write it down and sign the paper.