Criminal Fraud Trials free essay sample

Describes compares complex cases in U.S., Australia United Kingdom. Trial length, role of jury, jury selection, defendants rights, judicial competence, investment fraud, organized crime, severance, reform. 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