The Rise of Managerialism: The Impact of Swift and (Un)sure Justice on Disclosure in Criminal Proceedings

On coming to power in 1997, New Labour continued in the same vein of the previous government by attempting to make criminal justice swifter and more efficient. This chapter analyses how the mechanism of defence disclosure has been cultivated to feed this agenda of increased efficiency of the CJS, often with little regard to pivotal due process safeguards that have been ridden roughshod in pursuit of these goals. It examines the sociopolitical climate that allowed both the creation of a defence disclosure regime via the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996 and its subsequent extension into the magistrates’ court via the Criminal Procedure Rules. The chapter examines the inequality between the defence and prosecution disclosure obligations, and their subsequent treatment in court in terms of consequences of non-compliance. It contends that a reversal in procedural culture is needed, in order to restore balance in a system which retains an adversarial architecture.