REPORT ON CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

Authors

Rollin M. Perkins, University of Iowa

Abstract

During the period of trial by battle such a proceeding served, in addition to its nominal purpose, something of the function which is now served by a World's Series ball game. From that time to this, the trial has been the spectacular aspect of the enforcement of justice in general and of criminal justice in particular. The result has been relative overemphasis upon criminal procedure in the strictly technical sense, and a corresponding neglect of the broader problems of administration. If, for instance, a conviction under a statute making it grand larceny to steal "a cow or animal of the cow kind" is reversed because the defendant stole a steer and the appellate court feels that a steer, being a male, is not "of the cow kind" the miscarriage of justice is not only obvious but striking. The case makes not only the front page but the editorial column as well. And without question it should do so. But there has been an unfortunate tendency to make the "technicalities" of procedure a "scapegoat" for all the ills of criminal justice, and having elaborated on these, to overlook very largely those phases of the subject which are chargeable with even greater leaks in the system, such as the caliber and qualifications of personnel, and the structural organization, equipment and working methods of the various public agencies engaged in the administration of criminal justice. "Indeed, as one studies American criminal justice in operation, it becomes clear that the three factors, personnel, administration, and procedure, must rank in the order named when judged with respect to their influence upon the results achieved."

Recommended Citation

Rollin M. Perkins, REPORT ON CRIMINAL PROCEDURE, 30 Mich. L. Rev. 46 (1931).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol30/iss1/6