Undermining Justice

What goes wrong?

Participation in the formal legal system can be complex, confusing and intimidating. The burden of proof in Criminal cases means any mistake on the part of police or prosecutors can result in guilty people going free; while vulnerable people are more likely to be disadvantaged, even to the point of being wrongfully convicted.

Vulnerable people

(a) children and young people;
(b) Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders;
(c) mentally ill or mentally disordered persons, and persons with developmental disabilities;
(d) persons from non-English speaking backgrounds; and
(e) other persons, who by reason of some disability, are unable to communicate properly with the police (such as the seriously visually or aurally impaired, persons who cannot speak, and so on). (Bartells, 2011)

Q: What is it about the people above that makes them vulnerable to being disadvantaged in the legal process?

Coercion

Coercion refers to witnesses or suspects being forced or led to giving evidence or statements against their own wishes. Australia law forbids torture, it is also not permitted to force an accused person to give information under 'duress' such as threatening (self or loved ones) or misleading them.

Vulnerable people who are not aware of their rights may be easily coerced however, without the police intending to do so.

For your rights in WA, see: https://www.legalaid.wa.gov.au/InformationAboutTheLaw/crime/securityOfficers/Pages/AnsweringQuestionsFromThePolice.aspx

Corruption

Australia does not have a corrupt system, however corruption still does occur.

Police have discretion to use their judgement to decide when to apply the law or let someone off with a warning. The idea is that punishment is not always the best option in all cases, and helps to not 'clog the system' with cases which would not be in the spirit of the law, such as minor crimes with mitigating circumstances.

For example, emergency vehicles are also subject to traffic laws, but in an emergency they can break the laws in a reasonable and safe way as their role in life preservation is considered to temporarily outweigh the role of those laws in protecting the public.

Police discretion is a good thing, as a lot of people might accidentally break the law every day. However the problem with this discretion is that police are human and might be swayed by promise of benefit, and this is corruption.

Disadvantage

Watch and Read: http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2015/s4271739.htm

Q: What key issues can you see here?
Q: What measures are being taken to address?
Q: Are these measures enough? What more could be done?

Procedural Error

The legal process has a lot of rules, in order to make the process fair equitable and transparent, and ensure injustice does not occur. However, people make mistakes and at times this can result in injustice occurring.

Trial By Media

The media can skew public perception of an accused person, or the facts surrounding a case. This can result in a bias against them which can prevent a fair trial. It is most serious when police, juries or judges are swayed by public opinion. Accused persons can apply to have their case heard only by a judge, if they are concerned that they will not otherwise get a fair trial, and this is granted in some cases.

Case Studies:

Note: Wikipedia is used here only to give you overviews- please don't cite Wikipedia in any assignments- the information is not static and can be easily changed, you can follow the references provided in Wikipedia though.

Lindy Chamberlain (Baby Azaria)

A 9 week old baby was taken by dingo at Uluru, the mother is wrongfully convicted of murder.
Public were suspicious because she wasn't hysterical enough, people didn't think a dingo would/ could carry off a human baby, and the baby's clothing had been tampered with. Years later, a man came forward and admitted to having found the clothing and moved it- and did not report it as he was doing something illegal at the time.

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaQeoAa42RY

Lloyd Rayney (Corryn Rayney)

Prominent lawyers wife is murdered, police tell the media he is the only suspect.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Corryn_Rayney
http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/western-australia/lloyd-rayney-defamation-trial-police-theory-that-hitman-murdered-corryn/news-story/71ffd7d749963107b187755773021fa5

Joanne Lees (Peter Falconio)

British tourists attacked in outback, she escaped but he was murdered. The public were deeply suspicious of her story, especially as she didn't behave the way they expected her to when talking to the media.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/07/13/1026185125857.html
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/revealed-why-many-doubted-joanne-lees/2005/12/17/1134703643601.html

International Impacts

Cassie Sainsbury Case (drug mule)
Early in news cycle: http://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/incidents/whats-next-for-cassie-sainsbury/news-story/8fe0d57fb90aca06d2552b85e7befca6

After news came out she had worked as a prostitute, the media perspective changed, and other people came forward, calling her a liar.

Q: How do you think this might affect her getting a fair trial in Columbia?

References

Bartells, L (2011) Police interviews with vulnerable adult suspects, Report No. 21, Australian Institute of Criminology. Retrieved from: http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/current%20series/rip/21-40/rip21.html

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