Disclosure Policy
* above links are to the most current edition
It is an important part of the criminal justice system that prosecutions be conducted fairly, transparently, and according to the highest ethical standards. It is a long standing tenet of the Australian criminal justice system that an accused person is entitled to know the case that is to be made against him or her, so that the accused person is able to properly defend the charges. An accused person is entitled to know the evidence that is to be brought in support of the charges as part of the Crown case, and also whether there is any other material which may be relevant to the defence of the charges.
In November 1998, the CDPP issued a Statement on Prosecution Disclosure with the support of the Heads of Commonwealth Law Enforcement Agencies. The Statement has been recently reissued and is publicly available. A copy is available on this web-site.
The purpose of the Statement is to provide a framework for investigators and prosecutors who need to address the question of disclosure in each prosecution.
The Statement sets out the CDPP's disclosure obligations in the cases it prosecutes. It covers the disclosure of material which the prosecution intends to use to prove its case, disclosure affecting the credibility or reliability of a prosecution witness, and disclosure of unused materials including exceptions to the requirement to disclose unused material. The Disclosure Statement deals with the obligations of the prosecution to make advance disclosure of the prosecution case as well as to disclose to the defence any other material gathered in the course of the investigation which may be of assistance to the defence.
The Disclosure Statement does not provide for separate disclosure by the investigating agency to the accused. Rather, the obligation on the prosecution to disclose material extends beyond the CDPP to the investigating agency and to other relevant Commonwealth agencies. Compliance requires that the investigating agency inform the CDPP of the existence of any material which may be required to be disclosed in accordance with the Statement. It is the practice of the CDPP to discuss disclosure obligations with investigating agencies, and to consider material which is brought to the CDPP’s attention.