The Rule of Exclusion of Evidence Obtained from the Invalid Procedure: A Comparative Study between Kuwaiti and American Criminal Procedures Laws
Dr. Yousef Haji Mutairi
Associate Professor of Criminal Law
Department of Law, College of Business Studies
Public Authority for Applied Education and Training
State of Kuwait
Abstract:
This research paper deals with the issue of the rule of excluding the evidence obtained from false procedures, which is represented by the inadmissibility of using the evidence obtained by the police through a false procedure and submitting it to the court as evidence of guilt against the accused. Consequently, this evidence should be excluded from the total evidence presented against the accused in a court through a comparison between the rulings of the US Supreme Court and the Kuwaiti Criminal Procedure Law in this regard.
The US Supreme Court adopted this rule in two stages. The first stage was at the level of federal law, and the second stage at the level of state courts. As for the Kuwaiti legislator, he organized the rule through the Kuwaiti Procedures Law. Whether in the American criminal law or the Kuwaiti Criminal law, the rule of excluding evidence obtained from a false procedure is of great importance in criminal justice where this rule aims primarily to prevent policemen from carrying out any illegal penal action in order to seize the evidence against the accused, because a consequence of the absence of this rule is that policemen shall not be keen to follow the penal procedures established by the US Constitution through its amendments that relate to the rights and freedoms of individuals.
The research concluded that the Kuwaiti legislator should adopt all the exceptions to the rule of excluding the evidence obtained from the invalid procedure approved by the US Supreme Court because of the importance of these exceptions in achieving criminal justice, in addition to the intervention of the Kuwaiti legislator to explain the effects that can result from the invalid procedure, whether in the procedures that follow the ruling invalidity or how to dispose of the indirect evidence obtained from the direct evidence that the court ruled to be invalid.
Keywords: criminal procedure law, criminal law, accused, policeman, evidence.