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Public trial or open trial is a
trial In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribunal, w ...
that is open to the public, as opposed to a
secret trial A secret trial is a trial that is not open to the public or generally reported in the news, especially any in-trial proceedings. Generally, no official record of the case or the judge's verdict is made available. Often there is no indictment. S ...
. It should not be confused with a
show trial A show trial is a public trial in which the guilt (law), guilt or innocence of the defendant has already been determined. The purpose of holding a show trial is to present both accusation and verdict to the public, serving as an example and a d ...
.


United States

The
Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution The Sixth Amendment (Amendment VI) to the United States Constitution sets forth rights related to criminal prosecutions. It was ratified in 1791 as part of the United States Bill of Rights. The Supreme Court has applied all but one of this amen ...
establishes the right of the accused to a public trial. The right to a public trial is strictly enforced, but is not absolute. Trials may in exceptional cases be regulated. Closures are decided case-by-case by the judge evaluating a claimed danger to a substantial or legitimate public interest. But whatever the interest at stake, the likelihood of danger to that interest must meet a substantial probability' test".Press-Enterprise Co. v. Superior Court (1986)
/ref> Examples of cases presenting closure issues include
organized crime Organized crime is a category of transnational organized crime, transnational, national, or local group of centralized enterprises run to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally thought of as a f ...
cases (overall security concerns),
rape Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...
cases (decency concerns), juvenile cases,Overview of the Sixth Amendment rights
and through the Silent witness rule and/or Classified Information Procedures Act, cases involving sensitive or " classified" information.See Ellis' decision in the US V Rosen case, who calls the Silent Witness Rule a "partial closing" of the trial Trials may be closed at the behest of the government only if it can show "an overriding interest based on findings that closure is essential to preserve higher values and is narrowly tailored to serve that interest".Waller v. Georgia (1984)
/ref> The accused may also request a closure of the trial; in such a case, it must be demonstrated that "first, there is a substantial probability that the defendant's
right to a fair trial A fair trial is a trial which is "conducted fairly, justly, and with procedural regularity by an impartial judge". Various rights associated with a fair trial are explicitly proclaimed in Article 10 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, th ...
will be prejudiced by publicity that closure would prevent, and second, reasonable alternatives to closure cannot adequately protect the defendant's fair trial rights". But before a judge can close a courtroom, the judge must consider all potential alternatives to closure. This is a very strict standard; the Supreme Court has held that "trial courts are required to consider alternatives to closure even when they are not offered by the parties," or by anyone else.Presley v. Georgia (2010)
/ref> In other words, a judge who does not want to be reversed on appeal must be confident that there cannot possibly be any alternative to closure that might later be conjured up by some appellate lawyer.


Canada

Pursuant to the
open court principle The open court principle requires that court proceedings presumptively be open and accessible to the public and to the media. In contrast, '' in camera'' describes court proceedings where the public and press are not allowed to observe the procedur ...
and related legislation, legal proceedings are generally open to the public and the media. Section 135(1) of the ''Courts of Justice Act'' (Ontario) states the general principle that "all court hearings shall be open to the public". In Quebec, however, under the Quebec Act 1774, the French legal system (including non-public trials) was allowed to remain intact, including the lack of a requirement that trials be public.


Soviet Union

In
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
the terms "open trial" (открытый процесс) and "public trial" (публичный процесс) differed. The term "open trial" implied the possibility for public to be present at the hearings. The term "public trial" implied the purposeful presentation of the process to wide public. Public trials were usually widely discussed in media and hearings were often arranged in larger auditoria. While the Soviet public trials are commonly associated with
Stalin era Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...
show trials A show trial is a public trial in which the guilt or innocence of the defendant has already been determined. The purpose of holding a show trial is to present both accusation and verdict to the public, serving as an example and a warning to ...
, such as Moscow Trials, nevertheless in
Russian culture Russian culture ( rus, Культура России, Kul'tura Rossii, kʊlʲˈturə rɐˈsʲiɪ) has been formed by the nation's history, its geographical location and its vast expanse, religious and social traditions, and both Eastern cultu ...
the term "public trial" did not acquire negative connotations, despite the apparent attributes of a show, primarily because the publicity of any information in pre-
glasnost ''Glasnost'' ( ; , ) is a concept relating to openness and transparency. It has several general and specific meanings, including a policy of maximum openness in the activities of state institutions and freedom of information and the inadmissi ...
era was severely limited by the Soviet state. The term "show trial" corresponds to Russian "показной процесс" (''pokaznoy process'').


See also

*
Open court principle The open court principle requires that court proceedings presumptively be open and accessible to the public and to the media. In contrast, '' in camera'' describes court proceedings where the public and press are not allowed to observe the procedur ...
* Silent witness rule * Classified Information Procedures Act * United States v. Franklin *
Thomas Andrews Drake Thomas Andrews Drake (born 1957) is a former senior executive of the National Security Agency (NSA), a decorated United States Air Force and United States Navy veteran, and a whistleblower. In 2010, the government alleged that Drake mishandled do ...


References


External links


History of the right to public trialDEFENDANT’S RESPONSE TO GOVERNMENT’S MOTION FOR AN IN CAMERA HEARING
Wyda & Borman, March 2011, (Silent Witness Rule violates right to Public Trial), from Federation of American Scientists website {{DEFAULTSORT:Public Trial Types of trials
Trial In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribunal, w ...