Complex Criminal Fraud Trials: Problems and Solutions
This paper will examine the problems of complex criminal trials in Australia, the United States, and the United Kingdom. The focus will be on "serious fraud" cases, which usually involve securities laws violations. There will also be some discussion of organized crime cases in the United States, since most of the controversies over complex criminal cases have arisen in the context of these cases. The first part of the paper will discuss these problems in general terms, noting the criticisms of how these trials are conducted and the efforts at reform. The second part of the paper will look at three actual trials, one each in Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Critics of the present criminal justice systems point to these three trials in particular as illustrative of the problems posed by complex criminal trials. The third part of the paper will discuss the most controversial aspect of the criminal justice system: the jury. The discussion in this section of the paper will focus upon how the jury system has failed in complex criminal trials. It will also look at the right to a jury trial as it exists in each of the three jurisdictions discussed in this paper and whether it would be possible (and feasible) to eliminate jury trials in complex criminal fraud cases. The fourth part of the paper will briefly examine the issue of judicial competence. This discussion will focus upon whether judges themselves are competent to understand the evidence presented in the court during the course of these trials. It will also focus upon the problems with the instructions given to juries by the judges in these cases. The last part of the paper will look at other possible solutions to the problems presented by complex criminal fraud trials. This section of the paper will especially focus upon severance and the Roskill Reforms. Within this section will be a discussio...