The World Assembly:
APPLAUDS the aim of GAR #187, Double Jeopardy Prohibition, which was to ban the deplorable practice of Double Jeopardy within WA member states;
REGRETS that the resolution ultimately overstepped its intended purpose and made it much more difficult for WA member states to ensure that those individuals who have committed a crime are appropriately punished;
NOTES that the resolution's text includes the following statement: "1. Once an individual has been acquitted of a crime, member states shall not try that individual for the same alleged criminal act again.";
CLARIFIES that the term "acquitted" in the aforementioned clause is not the same as a final judgment of innocence, which in turn creates a number of legal problems for WA member states;
DETAILS that this restriction outlaws a number of otherwise fair and necessary judicial proceedings such as:BELIEVES that such an absolute ban is neither wise nor prudent due to the compelling need for WA member states to run their judicial systems in a just and reasonable manner through having access to the previously mentioned appeal proceedings;
- Trial de novo, which is a common civil law occurrence in which a trial is essentially redone,
- Concurrent jurisdiction, which may exist on both on the international and national level and may result in local politics playing a role in determining where an individual is tried in order to impact the outcome of the trial,
- Prosecution appeal, which may be necessary in the event of any or all of the following:
- Learning of judge or jury bias during the original proceedings,
- Tampering with evidence, or
- Discovering new evidence that may have changed the outcome of the case;
REPEALS GAR #187, Double Jeopardy Prohibition.
Co-Authored by: Mallorea and Riva
Alqania is working on a replacement draft as well. If there's something in particular that you want in the replacement, see here
Moronist Decisions has another replacement option going here.