Law Commons^™

In The Dark – Pushing The Boundaries Of True Crime, Sharon Davis

RadioDoc Review

True crime podcasts are a burgeoning genre. As journalists and storytellers, how do we balance the pursuit of justice and our responsibility to the victims with the demand to tell a gripping tale? As listeners, are we using the pain of others for our own entertainment? In the Dark podcast (Seasons 1 and 2) takes us beyond a vicarious fascination with true crime stories into a forensic and essential look at deep-rooted biases, corruption and systemic failures that prevent justice from being served.

The first season (2016) investigates the 1989 kidnapping, sexual assault and murder of 11-year-old Jacob Wetterling In …

Populism And Criminal Justice Policy: An Australian Case Study Of Non-Punitive Responses To Alcohol-Related Violence, Julia Quilter

Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts - Papers (Archive)

Populism is widely regarded in the literature as a negative and inherently punitive influence on criminal justice policy. This article challenges this view and highlights the ways in which populism can produce forms of citizen engagement in the criminal justice context that are new and progressive. These possibilities are illustrated through a close analysis of the responses to a single instance of ‘random’ fatal violence: the killing of Thomas Kelly in King’s Cross, Sydney, in 2012. This case study shows how a populist campaign powerfully realigned political allegiances to call for, and achieve, real and enduring action from the New …

A Different Kind Of Justice: A Critical Reflection, Cassandra Sharp Dr

RadioDoc Review

Despite the accepted success of many restorative justice programs with youth and Indigenous offenders, debate still proliferates about the utility of adult restorative justice programs within the criminal justice system. Many important questions are raised about the efficacy and impact of such programs including: ‘What can restorative justice offer adult offenders and victims of crime? What are some of the challenges of using restorative justice in this context? And what can we learn from emerging developments in practice?’ (Bolitho et al, 2012). As will be discussed in this review, Russell Finch’s BBC Radio 4 production of A Different Kind of …

Justice With A Vengeance: Retributive Desire In Popular Imagination, Cassandra Sharp

Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts - Papers (Archive)

The punishment of criminal behaviour has always been a hot topic in popular culture. Whether in fictional crime dramas or in mainstream news coverage, issues of law, justice, and punishment are constantly being refracted and reframed in a myriad of ways. We seem to like watching criminals not only being caught but also receiving the punishment they deserve. We love it when Sherlock Holmes or Patrick Jayne solves the crime on fictional television, and too often we hear stories in the media of a victim’s family that is indignant and angry that the perpetrator is seemingly “getting away” with a …

The Dynamics Of Transitional Justice: International Models And Local Realities In East Timor, Charles Hawksley

Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts - Papers (Archive)

[extract] As Ruti Teitel has outlined, transitional justice can be seen as evolving in three phases. The first involved criminal trials, such as Nuremberg and Tokyo, which sought to hold individuals accountable for abuses of human rights during World War II, and this was buttressed by the development of various international legal instruments to protect rights which today constitute a central aspect of approaches to transitional justice. In the 1980s and 1990s a second phase of transitional justice occurred with post-dictatorship tribunals and bodies such as truth commissions, both of which 'thickened' transitional justice by introducing a restorative element. The …

'Section 32: A Report On The Human Service And Criminal Pathways Of People Diagnosed With Mental Health Disorder And Cognitive Disability In The Criminal Justice System Who Have Received Orders Under The Mental Health (Forensic Provisions) Act 1990 (Nsw)', Linda Roslyn Steele, Leanne Dowse, Julian Trofimovs

Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts - Papers (Archive)

A brief discussion of the MHDCD Project is appropriate in order to contextualise the Section 32 MHDCD Project. The MHDCD Project concerns a cohort of 2,731 men and women, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, who have been in prison in New South Wales and whose mental health disorder and cognitive disability diagnoses are known (the 'MHDCD cohort'). The cohort was drawn from the 2001 NSW Inmate Health Survey (IHS) and from the NSW Department of Corrective Services State-wide Disability Service Database (SDD). Ethics approval was obtained from all of the relevant ethics bodies, including from the University of New South Wales …

Justice And The Identities Of Women: The Case Of Indonesian Women Victims Of Domestic Violence Who Have Access To Family Court, Rika Saraswati

Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts - Papers (Archive)

The Family Court is the most important institution for Indonesian women who have experienced domestic violence. The institution becomes their last resort to end the violence and to obtain their rights as wives when the performance of criminal justice system is not satisfying. The women’s rights as wives are basically regulated in the Marriage Act 1974 and other implementing regulations of the Act. In reality, the rights of the women in this study, that they expected to be fulfilled, were different for each individual woman victim of domestic violence because of the diverse implementation of regulations in the Family Courts …

Access To Justice For Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander People, Elena Marchetti

Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts - Papers (Archive)

I would firstly like to pay respect to the traditional and original owners of this land the Mouheneenner people - to pay respect to those that have passed before us and to acknowledge today’s Tasmanian Aboriginal community who are the custodians of this land.

There is a preference these days for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to be referred to separately rather than under the umbrella term of ‘Indigenous’ and I will try and honour that preference as much as I can. However, in some circumstances I will be using the term ‘Indigenous’ because it better suits the content …

Fare Well, Justice Kirby, Elisa Arcioni

Faculty of Law - Papers (Archive)

Who can believe it? ‘The great dissenter’, the judge with a Facebook site dedicated to him,1 the person known affectionately to his associates as ‘our Judge’, Justice Michael Kirby has reached the end of his federal judicial tenure. Justice Kirby has turned 70 and, as required by section 72 of the Constitution, must leave his office in the High Court of Australia. Analysis of the Judge’s jurisprudential influence will flow soon enough. This piece is instead a reflection on the experiences of his associates to provide some different insights, such as into the workings of his High Court chambers. Those …

The Criminal Justice System And The Rule Of Law, Donna Spears

Faculty of Law - Papers (Archive)

In everyday use, the rule of law is often equated with law and order - the idea that people should obey the law. However, as Bottomley and Parker observe, while law and order might be an aspect of some conceptions of the rule of law, it is not really at the heart of it.' They suggest that the rule of law is valued because it is thought to curb the power of government, protect the rights and liberties of citizens and promote personal autonomy, in that individuals can predict the circumstances in which government will interfere with their lives.

Litigation Privilege: Transient Or Timeless? Blank V Canada (Minister Of Justice), James Goudkamp

Faculty of Law - Papers (Archive)

Litigation privilege has become unfashionable. It is under attack on multiple fronts throughout the common law world! In the United Kingdom, perhaps the most notable inroad on the privilege is that made by the House of Lords in Re L (A Minor) (Police Investigation: Privilege).2 In that case it was held that the privilege is an incident of adversarial proceedings and that, consequently, it did not obtain in respect of material generated for the purposes of proceedings that were not predominantly adversarial in nature. There are signs that more radical restrictions are to come. In Three Rivers District Council v …

Indigenous Courts And Justice Practices In Australia, E Marchetti, Kathleen Daly

Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts - Papers (Archive)

Indigenous participation in sentencing procedures has been occurring informally in remote communities for some time. During the late 1990s, formalisation of this practice began in urban areas with the advent of Indigenous sentencing and Circle Courts. Formalisation has also occurred in remote areas. The aim has been to make court processes more culturally appropriate, to engender greater trust between Indigenous communities and judicial officers, and to permit a more informal and open exchange of information about defendants and their cases. Indigenous people, organisations, elders, family and kin group members are encouraged to participate in the sentencing process and to provide …