- Title
- The reliability of firearm identification in South Africa : a comparative perspective
- Creator
- Mutsavi, Tanyarara
- Subject
- Forensic sciences Firearms -- Identification
- Date
- 2018
- Type
- Thesis
- Type
- Masters
- Type
- Law
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10353/10850
- Identifier
- vital:35860
- Description
- Crime has become a well-known and worrying fact of life in South Africa. It constrains the ability of citizens to participate actively and meaningfully in all spheres of social and economic life. In many cases where a crime is committed, a firearm is involved. In order to fight gun crime there is a need for the perpetrators to be prosecuted. For prosecution to take place, there must be evidence to link the suspects to the committed crime. This is when firearm identification as a form of expert scientific evidence comes into play. This type of evidence links the bullets and cartridges recovered from the crime scene to the suspect.s firearms through the process of matching which is done by using a comparison microscope. Expert scientific evidence like firearm identification evidence, needs to be scientifically reliable because unreliable evidence may lead to the conviction of the innocent and exoneration of the guilty. Case law, authoritative reports and other literature have shown that firearm identification is not scientific and therefore it is not reliable. This is a disturbing position, considering the fact that this type of evidence is still being used in courts and no alternative has been found thus far to replace it. This study therefore proposes some reforms and recommendations which have been registered in authoritative reports which assist South Africa in dealing with firearm identification evidence. To achieve reliability, some writers have suggested that South Africa should adopt the US approach with regard to admissibility where judges play a .gate keeping. role by making sure that expert evidence is reliable before it enters the court. However, this study argues that scientific reliability, in South Africa, should not be a criterion for admissibility, but should rather be a central factor in deciding what weight should be attached to the expert evidence given in a particular case. The reason for this is that, in South Africa, the jury system is not used and therefore the judge does not have to exercise a .gate keeping. role, as he or she will be the final arbiter as to whether the evidence is reliable. In this context, reliability is considered during cross-examination. Cross-examination by the defence is crucial and this study proposes some possible cross-examination questions that can be helpful in testing the reliability of firearm identification evidence.
- Format
- 155 leaves
- Format
- Publisher
- University of Fort Hare
- Publisher
- Faculty of Law
- Language
- English
- Rights
- University of Fort Hare
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UFH Nelson R Mandela School of Law
| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details | SOURCE1 | T.Mutsavi LLM Final pdf.pdf | 1 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details |