Analysis of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act, S.69 - Computer Generated Evidence

The law of evidence is concerned with the means of proving the facts which are in issue and this necessarily involves the adduction of evidence which is then presented to the court. At present there are special rules governing the admissibility of computer-generated evidence in criminal proceedings. In this article the issues of when computer output will be considered direct evidence or hearsay and the reliability of computer-generated evidence are discussed. In conclusion the article attempts to ascertain whether these special rules for computer output are necessary and, if so, whether the conditions established by the statutory provisions are appropriate.