Considerations regarding the complex nature of judicial hearings preparation

• Author: Gabriel Ion Olteanu
• Pages: 120-127

AGORA International Journal of Juridical Sciences, www.juridicalj ournal.univagora.ro

ISSN 1843-570X, E-ISSN 2067-7677

No. 3 (2013), pp. 120-127

120

CONSIDERATIONS REGARDING THE COMPLEX NATURE OF

JUDICIAL HEARINGS PREPARATION

G. I. Olteanu

Gabriel-Ion Olteanu

Faculty of Law, the Forensic Department,

Police Academy “Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, Bucharest, Romania

*Correspondence: Gabriel Ion Olteanu, Police Academy “Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, 1A Aleea

Privihetorilor St., Sector 1, Bucharest, Romania.

E-mail: gabrielolteanu10@gmail.com

Abstract

The author takes over and develops a classic theme of the criminal discourse:

preparation for interrogation. By presenting the considerations related to less analysed

aspects of the doctrine and ignored by the Romanian investigators, the author brings to

attention a theme for meditation both necessary and profound – from adequate preparation of

the judicial hearing to the heard person’s scientific evolution and personal needs.

Keywords: Judicial hearing, judicial interview and interrogation, investigator,

suspect, hearing effectiveness

Introduction

Practitioners say that two minutes of preparation can save several hours of

investigation. Although judicial hearings can take place outside a formal framework, proper

preparation is essential for the success of any hearing. In the street, at a person’s domicile, in

the offices of a multinational company or in the hearing room, the investigator’s performance

must be attentively prepared. He/she must not forget that he/she has specific objectives of the

investigation which must be carried on, that the investigated person has his/her own interests

and behavior and that nothing was ever easy to do within a criminal investigation. The

preparation of judicial hearings is not only complex but also compulsory. If the obligation

means to observe the previsions of legal norms and criminal tactics assimilated by the

professional environment, then when we speak of complexity, we must have in mind the

investigator’s active thinking. The investigator has to adjust himself/herself to each person

and case particularities. The simple application of patterns cannot bring the necessary

success in each investigator’s undertaking.

The preparation of hearing within judicial investigations means, in a classic approach,

to determine the issues which have to be settled within the hearing, the order in which the

evidence presented has to be used, the establishment of tactic procedures of hearing,

according to the data obtained regarding the accused or defendant’s psychology and

personality as well as the circumstances in which the crime was committed.

1

I consider that

here it is necessary to notice certain evolutions and, as a consequence, pay the necessary

attention to certain elements further described.

The hearing objectives – a person’s hearing results in obtaining an important amount

of information useful for the ongoing investigation development where it is highly important

that the investigator adequately evaluates the nature and importance of the information

obtained.

1

C. Aionioaie, T. Butoi, Ascultarea învinuitului sau inculpatului, in Tratat de tactic criminalistic, “Carpai”

Printing House, Craiova, 1992, p. 91.