The following report has been undertaken by James Catley on behalf of the Attorney General. The report addresses the proposed amendments to the Victims of Crime Act 2001 (SA) for which the Attorney General will have responsibility. The proposed amendment will give the Commissioner for Victims’ Rights and/or the alleged victim of a sexual offence the specific power to be legally represented in criminal proceedings. The report will employ three methods of research; case studies, research studies and jurisprudential studies. The recommendations made will be based upon policy considerations, philosophical arguments and the way in which the amendments may work in practice. It is evident from the statements made by the premier that the proposal …show more content…
In more extreme cases the defence may employ strategies in cross-examination which use sexist gender stereotypes to question the credibility of the witness. The controversial American rape case of William Kennedy Smith is an example where the absence of legal representation allowed the exploitation of the victim’s rights. In order to assert that Smith had not roughly assaulted the victim as she had claimed, the defence displayed her “sexy-styled” lacy brassiere which was still intact. Consequently, the brassiere was then used to imply to the jury that a woman who wears a brassiere of this nature would have consented to sexual intercourse. With legal representation the victim would have been aware of her right to privacy with regard to the brassiere, and may have directed the judge to exclude the sexist and gender-biased comments made to imply that consent was given. The victim was not afforded this benefit and as a result the strategy employed by the defence proved successful when the case was acquitted. It is clear that in an Adversarial system such as the United States a victim’s access to legal representation has been the deciding factor in the protection of their rights. In order to fight defence tactics that exploit sexist stereotypes and a victim’s right to privacy, victims must be granted access to personal legal
The purpose of this report is to discuss the matter The Queen V Bayley, which took place on the 29th of September 2012. Adrian bailey (serial rapist) was found guilty on charges of murder and rape, this report will discuss in detail the court proceedings that lead up to the imprisonment of Adrian Bayley and also the events prior to the kidnapping of Jill Meagher. The purpose of this report is to discuss the purpose of law in our society and how it applies to people who commit crimes in our community. As well as the purpose of criminal law in our community.
The prosecutor must also consider the views of the victim in regard to the impact of the offence. With sexual offences the safety of victim and children must be considered.
The criminal justice system is composed of three parts – Police, Courts and Corrections – and all three work together to protect an individual’s rights and the rights of society to live without fear of being a victim of crime. According to merriam-webster.com, crime is defined as “an act that is forbidden or omission of a duty that is commanded by public law and that makes the offender liable to punishment by that law.” When all the three parts work together, it makes the criminal justice system function like a well tuned machine.
A fire rose within to burn social economic barriers that imprisoned me from achieving an education. As a member of a low-income household, I continually witnessed my parents struggling to pay for utilities, rent, and groceries. Although we received government assistance, it never seemed to be enough. My father worked long hours at a dairy factory to provide for our family, but his addiction to alcohol took most of his income. My mother depended on government assistance due to her chronic asthma and arthritis. Not being able to rely on my parents for stability, my six older siblings were forced to drop out of high school to become providers of their own.
Like the media, the criminal justice system and organisations in and around the criminal justice system play a major contribution in the construction of an ‘ideal victim’. As stated by ‘….Rock (2006), Institutional practices shape the public representations and private understandings of victims of crime’. For instance, in Australia there are many organisations that help victims and their families of serious crimes. Although on the other hand, there are limited or no services available to victims of minor crimes.
In order to keep a safe society, it is important to establish a nation with
In the case of Robinson v. California, 370 U.S. 660 (1962), the Supreme Court ruled that a law may not punish a status; i.e., one may not be punished to being an alcoholic or for being addicted to drugs. However, of course, one may be punished for actions such as abusing drugs. The question becomes; What if the status “forces” the action? What if a person, because of his/her addiction to drugs, is “forced” by the addiction to purchase and abuse the illegal drugs? Would punishing that person be unfairly punishing a status?
There can be changes in how the criminal justices process deals with rape victims; first, train all criminal justice agency professionals on the traumatic and disturbing effects of rape on the lives of its victims. Compassion for the rights of victims often leads to a more convictions and seek longer sentences. If the experience of victims in the criminal justice process is to be improved, there have to be a better understanding of the impact of victimization and of the need to treat victims of crime with courtesy, compassion, dignity, and sensitivity. There must be continual progress in raising awareness and expanding information services and assistance to victims of crime.
As we all know – there are tons of social issues within the entire world that Criminal Justice Practitioners deal with, most likely, on a daily basis. One of the many social issues I’ve chosen is Prison Overcrowding.
At the beginning of the year looking for classes to take Human Services stood out to me. Although not really knowing the meaning of human services, I believed it was about helping people and that’s something I have always been very passionate about. I am always the friend who is giving advice and hearing out my friends’ dilemmas and situations. The definition of Human services in our book is: a phrase that is often used to group activities that focus on helping people live better lives. In a vague way, the human services include formal systems such as government welfare programs, education, mental retardation services, mental health organizations, child care programs, physical health care establishments, and the correctional services of the legal justice system. The definition of a human service worker is: Anyone who is trained or educated in helping activities. A person who does not have traditional professional academic credentials but who, through experience, training, or education, provides helping services. When this project of interviewing a human service worker and learning in depth how they do their job, and how they help others it was something that I was pretty excited about. The process on how I found the human service corporation I would interview was pretty difficult since all of the ones I was interested at first were taken. Going through the process to schedule my first interview was not as hard as I sought it to be.
Outline and explain the three key goals victims can pursue through the criminal justice system.
This paper will describe my understanding of the text and of the lectures provided in the class. Unlike most classes, where I understood only my view of the text, this class was geared so each student would understand each other’s view. 3 An organization is a collective that has some boundary and internal structure that engages in activities related to some complex set of goals. Members of organizations attempt to meet their psychological, ego and emotional needs within the organization. Criminal justice organizations are particularly unique compared to other public or private sector organizations because of the governmental granted authority. Management within these organizations can be defined as the process by
Victims of crime, particularly those violent in nature, have their rights violated and experience exceedingly high level of trauma and stress (Appendix B, 2015). It is surprising then, that Criminal Justice Systems (CJS) around the world forgo many victims’ rights and provided limited space for them to interact with the system (Sarre, 1999). Rather systems are built around balancing the rights of offenders against the greater safety and need of the community whilst neglecting individual justice needs of the victims (Sarre, 1999). With limited rights and minimal involvement a victim often becomes a disposable utensil to the CJS (Clark, 2010). They are used by the courts to determine the ultimate truth so justice may be served, with no care for the damage that may be caused in the process and then disposed of the case is concluded (Braun, 2014). In 2011-2012 a victimisation survey revealed that 1.2 million Australians were victims of personal crimes, such as assault, robbery and sexual assault (Australian Institution of Criminology, 2013). Of these victims, only half of the crimes were reported to the police (Australian Institution of Criminology, 2013). Such low reporting rates have been contributed in part to this notion of imbalance offender VS victims’ rights (Braun, 2014). Due to the sensitive nature of sexual crimes, the limited available evidence and victim rights, these crimes tend to carry the lowest reporting rates (Braun, 2014). During the latest Australian
Everyone in the United States have specific rights when they are criminally accused. “I consider trial by jury as the only anchor ever yet imagined by man, by which a government can be held to the principles of its constitution.” This quote was from Thomas Jefferson. Trial by jury goes along with everyone having rights when they are accused, it is one of the basic things in the bill of rights, that when you are accused, you have the right to a trial by jury. There are many other rights as well.
Since the beginning of the regime on criminal law, countries across the world have been focused on the rights of the accused and not those of victim. This is because of the consideration that the accused is alone and the government as well as the societal machinery is running against him.