The Procedural Rights (and Responsibilities) of the Guilty

Abstract

First paragraph: Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights declares the ‘ Right to a fair trial ’, and defines various specific rights that give more determinate content to the idea of a fair trial; Article 6(3) specifies the ‘ minimum rights ’ that accused persons must enjoy: (a) to be informed promptly, in a language which he understands and in detail, of the nature and cause of the accusation against him; (b) to have adequate time and facilities for the preparation of his defence; (c) to defend himself in person or through legal assistance of his own choosing or, if he has not sufficient means to pay for legal assistance, to be given it free when the interests of justice so require; (d) to examine or have examined witnesses against him and to obtain the attendance and examination of witnesses on his behalf under the same conditions as witnesses against him; and (e) to have the free assistance of an interpreter if he cannot understand or speak the language used in court. These rights are to be enjoyed by all defendants, whether innocent or guilty, but my concern here is with the grounds on which the guilty should enjoy them, and with the kind of wrong suffered by a guilty person who is denied these rights.