Browsing by Author "Steyn, Esther"

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    Plea-bargaining in South Africa: Current concerns and future prospects
    (2007) Steyn, Esther
    The powers of the prosecution service in South Africa are extensive, particularly when it comes to the exercise of its discretion to institute criminal proceedings, to negotiate plea and sentence agreements and to divert matters from the criminal process. A court cannot prevent a prosecutor from withdrawing a matter or from accepting a specific plea. It is the state that remains dominus litis. However it will be sufficient for the purposes of this paper to focus on how the prosecution service exercises its power when it negotiates a plea and sentence bargain and then to examine and determine the usefulness, fairness and the constitutionality of this process after 1994.
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    The challenges of sentencing offenders under a dual legal system : does the value of human dignity inform judicial punishment in Botswana
    (2006) Moroka, Lot; Steyn, Esther
    The recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of teh human family is teh foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world.
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    The South African prosecution service: linchpin of the South African criminal justice system?
    (2007) Keuthen, Jens Christian; Scharf, Wilfried; Steyn, Esther
    The prosecution service is a key role player in the criminal justice system. Its effectiveness and efficiency directly reflect on the performance and service of the whole criminal justice system. The South African prosecution service in its current shape is relatively young. Constitutional and legislative provisions supplemented by various policy papers have established a framework that in principle allows for an effective and efficient function of the prosecution service in the South African criminal justice system. However, the actual performance of the prosecution service is insufficient, as this thesis suggests. Reasons for the current underperformance can be identified and are strongly linked to the transitional development of the South African prosecution service. In order to increase the performance of the prosecution service and the service of the criminal justice system this thesis explores the challenges facing the prosecution service and that have to be addressed immediately.