CRIME INVESTIGATION AND THE CRIMINAL TRIAL - A 3 CHAPTER PARADIGM OF EVIDENCE

The investigation of a crime and the consequent criminal trial are bes t considered, conceptually, as a book of three chapters: The Problem t o Find, The Decision to Charge and The Problem to Prove. All three cha pters contain elements of induction and deduction. Induction consists of reasoning from the particular to the general. Deduction consists of reasoning from the general to the particular. However, the first chap ter, the investigation, requires predominantly inductive reasoning in that it considers how various pieces of evidence combine to point to a particular culprit. The second chapter is something of a hybrid and i t represents the fundamental change in mental attitude which is requre d in the change from a mainly inductive, to a mainly deductive, reason ing approach to evidence. The third chapter, the criminal trial, is ma inly deductive in character in that it considers each piece of evidenc e in the light of the hypothesis (i.e., the criminal charge) that a na med accused person is guilty of the offence. Some contemporary statist ical attitudes to evidential value are discussed both in relation to t he extrinsic and the intrinsic properties of physical evidence and als o in relation to conflicting attitudes to evidence evaluation througho ut the criminal trial.