[Home] [Databases] [WorldLII] [Search] [Feedback] South African Law Commission

You are here:  SAFLII >> Databases >> South African Law Commission >> Discussion Paper >> 100 >> CHAPTER 1

[Database Search] [Name Search] [Previous] [Next] [Download] [Help]

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS

1.1 During 1989 the then Minister of Justice requested the Commission to investigate the possibility of simplifying criminal procedure, with particular reference to a number of questions, two of which were:

(a) Whether the existing provisions relating to the procedure of pleading are unnecessarily cumbersome and/or whether they give rise to abuse; (and)

...

(h) Whether any other provisions relating to criminal procedure and the law of evidence should be amended in order to obviate unnecessary delays and abuse.

1.2 Owing to the extent of the investigation the Commission decided to publish several working papers dealing with different aspects of the investigation. In the first phase the Commission published a working paper which addressed appeal procedures and related matters. This part of the investigation was completed and a report submitted to the Minister during 1994. In the next phase the Commission published a working paper which addressed the reasons for delays in the completion of criminal trials, abuses of the process, specific provisions of the Criminal Procedure Act that cause delays, and problems relating to the administration of the process. That investigation focused on a possible simplification of the process aimed at the elimination of delays in the completion of criminal trials.

1.3 An interim report which, among other things, recommended the formal recognition of a process of plea negotiations in the Criminal Procedure Act, 51 of 1977, was finalised and submitted to the Minister on 16 January 1996. What subsequently occurred, especially as far as the interim report related to plea bargaining, is set out in the Commission's Discussion Paper 94: Simplification of Criminal Procedure (Sentence Agreements). This discussion paper deals with sentence agreements as a part of plea bargaining.

1.4 Paragraph 5.15 of Discussion Paper 94 reads as follows:

The Commission proposes that the present study be limited to sentence agreements. Other plea agreements are sufficiently provided for in the CPA and do not require regulation. There is no evidence of abuse of these provisions. Out-of-court settlements of criminal cases – for example, as provided for in the amended section 6 – should be the subject of a separate investigation and proposal.

1.5 The current report is the result of this separate investigation into out-of-court settlements of criminal cases.