Anonymous asked this question on 4/29/2000:

What are the strengths of the adversarial system of trial? Also, what are the two major weaknesses of it? This relates specifically to criminal law, btw, not civil. Thanks!

bjo328 gave this response on 4/30/2000:

My initial response is that there are no strengths to the adversarial system of trial because the system allows for and perpetuates a misdirection from the truth. In an ideal system, prosecutors would present before the court any and all information obtained indicating the guilt of the accused, and the defense attorney acting in the designated role of officer of the court, would merely be entering information that mitigated the accused's guilt so that an apporpriate punishment could be meted out. However, politics being what it is and how it influences the ambitions of attorneys, both those who work for the state, and the defense has led to zealous prosecution of innocent people, as well as zealous defense leading to the release of the guilty. Hopefully the adversarial system makes either side "prove" their case. Two disadvantages of the system are: 1) the restriction on what, how evidence can be entered into a trial, including consideration of the way the evidence or information was obtained, and whether the proper "door" was opened during the trial for its introduction. 2) the acceptance that a defense attorney in vigorous defense of his/her client is allowed and encouraged to confuse and mislead the jurors away from the truth

The average rating for this answer is 5.

Anonymous rated this answer a 5.

Great, thanks!