Pretrial Discovery in Criminal Cases: A Necessity for Fair and Impartial Justice

I. History of Pretrial Discovery in Criminal Cases II. Policy Considerations … A. Why Is Pretrial Discovery Necessary? … (1) Confessions … (2) Items of Evidence and Scientific Reports … (3) Witness Statements … B. Arguments against Pretrial Discovery … (1) Pretrial discovery will lead to perjury and the suppression of evidence … (2) Defendants in criminal cases already have an unfair advantage, and pretrial discovery would only increase this imbalance … (3) Pretrial discovery in criminal cases will subvert the whole criminal system … (4) The crime rate has increased so rapidly that we must tighten our criminal procedures instead of liberalizing them … (5) Since the right against self-incrimination prevents the state from any discovery of an accused’s case, the state should have the same protection III. The Effect of Liberal Pretrial Discovery Methods in Military Courts and the English Criminal System … A. Military Proceedings … B. English Proceedings IV. The Present Law of Pretrial Discovery in American Jurisdictions … A. The Federal Law … B. The State Law … (1) State Statutes … (2) State Cases … [1] Confessions … [2] Items of Evidence and Scientific Reports … [3] Statements of Other Witnesses V. The Nebraska Law on Pretrial Discovery VI. Conclusion