Comparative Study of Attorney's Intervention in Pre-Trial Stage and Its Influence on Fair Judgment in Iran and the United States of America

Abstract

In the legal system of Iran and United States of America Attorney possesses the most important position in the Criminal Procedure. This position in Iran and United States of Americaplays a key role in the pre-trial stage. Legal system in the United States of America is called “common law”, and Criminal Procedure in this system is “adversarial”. The court does not exist in this system. Iran's legal system which is almost similar to the French system, has the court body. Despite this difference, in the two criminal justice systems, there are similarities within the pre-trial arrangements (Yousefi, 2011). Therefore, in this study, the influence ofattorney’s intervention in pre-trial stage, on three elements of the most important principles of a fair trial, including the principle of neutrality, equality of arms, not giving judicative role to a pursued person have been reviewed. Finally, it was found that attorney's intervention in the preliminary investigation can have negative effects on the principles of fair trial.