Accountability Law and Legal Definition. Accountability is generally the state of being liable, answerable, or accountable. When applied to a legal context, accountability means that some legal rule(s) exists under which a theory or claim can be made to find one liable in a civil law suit or culpable in a criminal matter. Under state laws, a person must reach a certain age before they can be held accountable in both civil and criminal matters.
A police officerâs regular practice in the business of policing is to observe crime and report it. Thus, an officerâs reports are often considered business records and therefore are allowed into evidence as an exception to the hearsay rule.
2. If there is a prosecution that leads to a trial, the witness may be called to give oral evidence. However there are procedures whereby the contents of a witness statement may be used as evidence in criminal proceedings without the witness being required to attend court.7. In the absence of objection, you can normally rely on the written statement, which is then read in full to the court (or summarised if the court allows). However, the court may itself require a witness to attend and give evidence, even if the defence has accepted the statement.