Criminal Disclosure Relating to Homicide and Serious Crime Investigations Flashcards
What initial actions should disclosure manager undertake immediately after appointment?
On appointment to the role, the Disclosure Manager must:
• read the Disclosure Managers desk file
• access the current Serious Crime Template downloaded to the local district shared drive, for use during the investigation
• report to the 2IC to receive a briefing, tasking, establishing what information is and is not discoverable, and ongoing supervision.
What are the key responsibilities of the disclosure manager?
The Disclosure Manager must:
• ensure all relevant and discoverable material is provided to defence counsel
• ensure all relevant and non-discoverable material is identified, listed and defence advised
• continually assess the risk to ensure that non-discoverable material is identified and not disclosed
• continually review to ensure that ongoing lawful justification to withhold exists for each document that is withheld
• ensure that robust auditable systems are employed to record disclosure decisions
• manage disclosure timeframes within the provisions of the Act
• retain and file all correspondence with defence counsel
• create a record in NIA of the fact of disclosure against the charge(s)
What does section 10(4) of the Criminal Disclosure Act provide?
disclosure may be supplied in whatever form, including electronically, that the person disclosing the information holds it in at the time of the request, provided this will be readily accessible to the defendant.
Consideration must be given to whether a defendant has ‘ready’ access to a computer with which to access electronic disclosure documents, particularly if remanded in prison.
