On the confrontation of the defendant in criminal proceedings

Confrontation is a procedural action involving a direct discussion between two persons with an aim to eliminate the differences in their testimonies regarding the facts which are essential for adjudication of the criminal matter. It is an institute of criminal procedure law, which implies the central role of its legal component. However, in addition to the legal aspect, it is indisputable that confrontation contains criminalistic and psychological aspects as well. These three aspects have determined the structure of this paper. In the first part of the paper, the author explores the normative aspects of this procedural action, discusses the conditions under which confrontation may be ordered and elaborates on the application technique. The second part of the paper focuses on the rules in criminalistics related to the implementation of this procedural action, as well as to the psychological bases of confrontation. Further elaboration on the three aforementioned aspects is necessary for a complete understanding of this complex procedural action, which can be a useful method for determining the authenticity of a testimony