Improperly Obtained Evidence in Anglo-American and Continental Law

This book is a detailed and accessible contextual analysis of the diverging and converging approaches adopted towards the exclusion of improperly obtained evidence across the Anglo-American and continental European legal traditions, written by a scholar with considerable experience of legal practice in both traditions. With its main focus on the law of England and Wales, France, Greece and the United States, the book provides extensive cosmopolitan insight into the role of truth discovery and evidence admissibility in Anglo-American and Continental law and is a major contribution to the literature on cross-cultural studies of human rights and criminal justice. -- John Jackson, Professor of Comparative Criminal Law and Procedure, School of Law, University of Nottingham This fascinating new book considers the endemic question of whether improperly obtained evidence should be excluded from criminal prosecutions. Giannoulopoulos takes a comparative approach, examining the issue in Anglo-American and Continental law jurisdictions. He finds convergences in nations with fundamentally different criminal justice systems, and he uncovers surprising divergences in nations with common legal cultures. Values and goals turn out to matter more than history and legal culture. This is an important book, which should be read by criminal justice and evidence scholars everywhere. -- Charles Weisselberg, Shannon Cecil Turner Professor, UC Berkeley School of Law The book is a comparative tour de force on one of the most fundamental questions in criminal procedures across the globe. Drawing upon a thorough knowledge of both Continental and Anglo-American systems, the author offers new cross-cultural insights into the enduring debate on the admissibility of improperly acquired evidence. In times of rapid internationalization of criminal evidence this is an illuminating reading for practitioners and academics interested in fresh cosmopolitan insights in this area. -- Professor, National University of Athens, Greece and Chair, Hellenic Criminal Bar Association