This is a resolution I proposed earlier, it failed to get passed the proposal stage. I am submitting it here first in order to restart the procedure, ideally to get feedback and advice from other esteemed member states of the World Assembly. It did come somewhat close during its earlier attempt and hopefully will carry upon its next suggestion. Thank you.
Establish Uniformed Rules of Criminal Procedure
This resolution, in summary, establishes the legal need for all member nations to issue clear and coherent uniform rules governing criminal proceedings. These rules are to be compiled, established, published, and made publicly available to all citizens in the effected member-nation.
These rules are intended to make navigating the judicial system more standard, efficient, and predictable for all participants including defendants, jurors, prosecutors, defense counsels, judges, magistrates, witnesses, and other participants in the legal system.
This resolution will define criminal procedure as the laws that govern the series of proceedings under which a member-state enforces, investigates, and tries criminal offenses.
The resolution will define uniformity by stating that these laws will be generalized and apply to all applicable handling of criminal offenses.
Terms used in this resolution for purposes of definition include
(1) A member-nation is any nation in the World Assembly
(2) A criminal defendant is any person being charged with a criminal offense.
(3) An officer of the court is any person who has a professional legal functioning in the judicial system, this includes prosecutors, other attorneys, magistrates, and judges. It does not apply to standard law enforcement personnel, including those who work or provide security for the judicial branch.
(4) A criminal proceeding is any action in which a defendant is facing investigation, arrest, detention, indictment, conviction, or punishment, for any criminal offense or is seeking appeal for a potentially wrongful conviction.
This rule recognizes the following truths:
(1) It is a compelling interest for all nations to have coherent, consistent, and uniform management of criminal legal proceedings.
(2) It is a compelling interest for all nations to provide a fair trial so as only guilty defendants can be held to face criminal sanctions for criminal offenses.
(3) It is a compelling interest for all nations to have a judicial system in which all participants are aware of the rules they must follow during criminal proceedings.
(4) Nations understand trial proceedings differently on a highly individualized basis and such proceedings may vary in standards based on local jurisdictions. Nations are sovereign and may pursue their own destiny by deciding, within boundaries of previously established World Assembly Resolutions, to decide what is included in uniformed rules and how individual jurisdictions may impose local variants provided they follow rules established by the World Assembly.
(5) Nations may have classes and groupings of their populace who due to circumstances may be different from traditional defendants and if needed may be subject to alternate rules of criminal proceedings which follow all the rules established by this resolution.
This rule mandates that all member-nations do the following:
(1) Member nations must publish uniformed rules that govern the handling of all criminal proceedings.
(2) Member nations must establish and apply these rules uniformly to all criminal proceedings.
(3) Member nations must make the publication of these rules available to any citizen who requests them.
(4) This resolution mandates that all officers of the court must familiarize themselves with these rules and be tested on them before being allowed to pursue such a career.
(5) These rules of criminal procedure must include a method for the pursuance of sanctions against any officer of the court who knowingly and deliberately violates criminal procedure to an extensive level that adversely impacts the outcome of a trial or results in any miscarriage of justice.
(6) These rules must impose additional procedures for which a defendant who has been harmed by any violation of the aforementioned rules can seek relief.
(7) The uniformed rules will govern jurisdiction, investigation, the issuance of warrants, interrogation, summons, arrest, pleas, arraignment, bail, trial, legal motions, evidence, testimony, conduct of officers of the court, conviction, acquittal, and appeals where applicable.
Amendments
(1) This resolution does not impose any specific guidelines toward what the rules of criminal procedure must include, except as already established in other World Assembly Resolutions or as explicitly mentioned above.
(2) This resolution does not require procedure be nationally uniformed in member-nations, noting that some nations have considerable level of devolution, cultural and local differences.
(3) Exceptions for certain classes of persons can be made to the uniform rules, so long as unique uniform rules are issued that follow the same guidelines as the standard set of rules and both the standard rules and unique rules clarify their differences. Persons subject to unique rules may include—but are not limited to-- military personnel, nobility, clergy, the head of state or other sovereign, law enforcement, minors, resident aliens, or other person with unique political authority governed by the member-nation’s statutory rules.