Question

4. Do you think the criminal procedure and entire criminal justice process is an exact science, if all criminal procedure rules are followed and there are no violations of the Constitution?

Answer 1

The broadest formulation of "significant problem" must be in terms of the dual aspect of any empirical science its formal or systematic side and its content. So far as actually solving problems is concerned, the formal and the empirical attributes of any science are interdependent not only need verified generalizations, so should find them quickly and to recognize their full implications. Practical utility, itself, depends finally upon available knowledge; and such knowledge in the developed sciences comprises valid generalizations that are systematized. Stated otherwise, the significance of a scientific generalization depends largely on its location in a system of such generalizations. Accordingly, although an analogy drawn from physical science must be employed with due caution, it can be accepted for the present purpose, namely, to indicate that we need not only sound rules of criminal law but also an organization, a system, of such rules Whatever one's view of the social disciplines may be, organized knowledge is an ultimate desideratum.

In the Anglo American legal world, the accepted dogma is that the common law, being the product of adjudication, is wholly disorganized; in Austin's blunt phrase, it is "a mess." One must be careful, however, how he interprets this criticism lest it become a gross exaggeration. In a sense there is just as much logic in the common law as in the civil law.

The primary divisions of the field, that termed "principles" is the most important because of its central, ultimate place in the system and because of the consequences of the acceptance of the principles. Just as the addition or radical modification of a fundamental law of physics has great effect upon the entire science so, too, as regards the principles of criminal law. Yet, to some persons the word principles is obnoxious perhaps their own principles oppose the use of language that suggests objective values. Or they fear that some sort of arbitrary dogma is being thrust upon them. But this is surely to ignore the structure of any science.

Since the principles of criminal law are not only organizational constructs but are also substantively important, it is possible and necessary to consider them from both viewpoints.

The seven principles of criminal law (legality, conduct, mensrea, concurrence, harm, causation, and punishment ) in the course of which it will become necessary to allude to the principle of conduct and to the doctrine of criminal attempt.