CMP3701 Questions and Answers PDF

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(a) Criminal procedural rules can sometimes operate separately from common law and constitutional law as a result of the fact that it is identifiable as “adjective law”. CORRECT(b) The term “criminal justice” only denotes the principles of criminal procedure and substantive criminal law. INCORRECT(c...

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(a) Criminal procedural rules can sometimes operate separately from common law and constitutional law as a result of the fact that it is identifiable as “adjective law”. CORRECT

(b) The term “criminal justice” only denotes the principles of criminal procedure and substantive criminal law. INCORRECT

(c) Due process of law demands that there have to be practical limitations on state power in the detection, investigation, prosecution and punishment of crime. INCORRECT

(d) Criminal procedure deals with the detection, investigation and prosecution of criminals. CORRECT

(a) A mandamus is a negative order ordering a person to refrain from doing something. CORRECT (b) The term “Superior Court” includes the Supreme Court of Appeal. CORRECT

(c) A district court may never try serious offences against the State. CORRECT (d) In terms of the four kilometres rule, a court is empowered to apply statutory law that is operative in its own area if the act or omission concerned took place in another province and a similar statutory provision is applicable in the other province. CORRECT

(a) Where an accused pleads not guilty in a lower court and his defence is based on the alleged invalidity of a provincial ordinance or a proclamation issued by the President, the accused has to be committed for summary trial before a superior court that has jurisdiction. CORRECT

(b) If a victim has successfully recovered his or her losses in terms of a civil action, a criminal court can in the event of a conviction also render a compensatory order to the victim. INCORRECT

(c) The prosecuting authority’s discretion to prosecute falls beyond the jurisdiction of a court of law and the latter can never intervene regardless of whether or not such discretion is improperly exercised. CORRECT

(d) A prosecutor who is authorised thereto, orally or in writing, by the National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) may negotiate and enter into a plea and sentence agreement as provided for in S 105A of the Criminal Procedure Act 51 of 1977. INCORRECT (a) The fact that an individual is under no general duty to report a crime entails that he or she may, in any given circumstance, lawfully refuse to co-operate once it is established that he or she could be a potential state witness. CORRECT

(b) The defence has no right to determine the sequence of state witnesses who give evidence and the prosecution should accordingly not have a final right to determine the sequence of the accused who wish to testify as defence witnesses. INCORRECT

(d) In principle, South Africa follows a system of compulsory prosecution. CORRECT (d) The triviality of an offence does not constitute sufficient ground for the refusal to prosecute. CORRECT

(a) The prosecuting authority may withdraw a charge before the accused has pleaded to such a charge, resulting in the accused being acquitted. INCORRECT

(b) If a prosecutor indicates to the court that on the basis of the evidence presented in court he or she is unable to support a conviction, the prosecution will be stopped. CORRECT

(c) The right to institute a prosecution for child stealing lapses after the expiration of 20 years. CORRECT

(d) Prosecutors have to at all times act in accordance with the wishes of the community in order to secure a conviction. CORRECT

(a) It is irregular for a private practitioner who was given a watching brief by an interested party to assist the prosecution on an informal basis. INCORRECT

b) Private prosecutions under statutory right remain under the control of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and the National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP). CORRECT

(c) Two or more persons may prosecute in the same charge if both have been injured by the same offence. INCORRECT (d) An accused is not bound by what is done by his or her legal representative in the execution of his or her mandate during the course of a trial. CORRECT (a) A trial can never be conducted in the absence of an accused. CORRECT (b) The procedure in terms of S 57 of the Criminal Procedure Act can be used for statutory and for common law offences. CORRECT (c) In appropriate circumstances an unlawful search, seizure or arrest can constitute an offence. INCORRECT (d) If a person who has been summoned fails to appear at the place on the date and at the time specified, he or she is guilty of an offence and is liable to the punishment of a fine or imprisonment for a period not exceeding six months. CORRECT (a) A bad motive for an arrest will make an arrest unlawful. INCORRECT (b) A telegraphic or similar written or printed communication from any magistrate, justice of the peace or peace officer which states that a warrant has been issued for the arrest of a person will not be sufficient grounds for a peace officer to arrest and detain the said person. CORRECT (c) If a person is unlawfully arrested, his or her detention after the arrest will also be unlawful. CORRECT (e) The act of shooting a suspect solely to carry out an arrest can sometimes be lawful. (a) A State can never be obliged to extradite a criminal. CORRECT (b) It has been held that the decision to issue a search warrant may be set aside only on administrative grounds. CORRECT (c) Even though a person who is effecting an arrest is not a peace officer, he or she may still search the arrested person. INCORRECT (d) The amount determined for bail may not have a punitive notion. CORRECT a) Release on police bail can only take place before an accused’s first appearance in a lower court. CORRECT (b) The High Court has the power to grant bail as a result of its common-law power to control its decisions. CORRECT (c) A preparatory examination is a criminal proceeding and amounts to a trial. INCORRECT (d) If an accused is discharged after a preparatory examination, the accused is effectively acquitted. INCORRECT

a) A magistrate’s court is competent to pronounce on the validity of all provincial ordinances. INCORRECT (b) A regional court is competent to impose a sentence of a fine not exceeding R30 000. INCORRECT (c) When an accused is illegally abducted from a foreign state by the Scorpions (a division of the South African national prosecuting authority) and handed over to the South African Police, the High Court before which such abducted person is arraigned will have jurisdiction to try him or her. INCORRECT (d) District courts are not competent to impose a sentence of 13 months’ imprisonment. INCORRECT (a) At the seat of each High Court of the Republic, the President may appoint a national director of public prosecutions. INCORRECT (b) The prosecution is and can be described as dominus litis at all times during the duration of the trial of an accused person. INCORRECT (c) Individuals are under no general legal duty to report crimes to the authorities.CORRECT (d) Although South Africa does not follow a system of compulsory prosecution, the prosecution is obliged to prosecute where a prima facie case exists. INCORRECT (a) In terms of Section 49(2) of the Criminal Procedure Act, the term “deadly force” refers only to the killing of a person. INCORRECT (b) At the conclusion of a criminal trial, the presiding judicial officer has to make an order that the goods or articles which were seized in terms of Section 20 of the Criminal Procedure Act shall be returned to the person from whom they were seized. INCORRECT (c) If evidence is obtained by the police in a manner that violates the constitutional right to privacy of the owner of a private dwelling and when the admission of that evidence is excluded during a criminal trial, it is a formal law consequence of that unlawful action by the police. CORRECT (d) When a person who is lawfully in charge of a premises lawfully suspects that in contravention to the Abuse of Dependence-producing Substances and Rehabilitation Centre Act 41 of 1971 somebody is in the possession of dagga on such premises, he or she may at any time enter such premises in all given circumstances and search any person thereon or therein. INCORRECT (a) Suspects and accused persons have the right to remain silent and the right not to be questioned. INCORRECT

(b) A person’s handwriting cannot be described as a bodily feature. CORRECT (c) An admission of guilt by payment of a fine without appearance in court does not amount to a previous conviction for the purposes of all offences. INCORRECT (d) The right to legal representation includes the right to confidentiality during consultation with the legal practitioner. CORRECT...