Finding out why a person has died, described in modern times as finding the ‘manner and cause’ of death has been the role of a coroner at least since the thirteenth century.
Their role has changed in the last century, with a greater focus on the growing relevance of death prevention and coronial recommendations. Governments have found this role particularly uncomfortable because it can expose obvious failures and require reform of systems.
Internal security has been a focus of governance for as long as civilisation has focused on maintaining power. WWI and WWII brought an explosion of interest in internal security agencies, and along with it, rising costs and reduced legal rights.
September 11 heralded many changes across the world. In Australia, one of those changes was a move toward greater restrictions on fundamental legal rights. This article explores some of those changes.
We are physiologically ‘designed’ to feel and respond to fear. Almost universally, we use fear in our interactions with others. However, it is also a tool for politicians to ensure the population remains complaint and accepts injustice.
In colonial times the emphasis was on controlling convicts, eliminating bushrangers, and expropriating Aboriginal land by force frequently involving murder. These activities paid little, if any, attention to due legal processes or fundamental legal rights.
The legal rights outlined are particularly important in providing safeguards against abuses by governments and their agents. The fundamental rights, developed over hundreds of years, have been adopted in international treaties. Some of the rights along with the reasons for their existence are detailed to provide an understanding of their importance and fragility.
Justice is not a not a simple concept that is only employed by those sitting in judgement on others in courts. Its application can be by any person in authority whose decision impacts positively or negatively on an individual. Judges,…
This article provides an historical review of injustice in the Australian legal system.
Turner contends that there was a complex relationship between the government, the judiciary and the police that involved ‘an unacknowledged agreement’ where ‘law enforcement is based on violence [that] almost necessarily involves malpractice’ and ‘[y]et none of this can be admitted by Government or Bench, because to do so would be to undermine an institution on which the power of judges and politicians depends’. In the end, corruption provides the foundation for injustice to occur.
The submissions for coincidence regarding Kathleen Folbigg were prepared by Robert Cavanagh and Rhanee Rego as the effort to convince the Attorney General to recommend a pardon continues. Read the full submissions here.
Probably the most infamous case in Australia, certainly the case that has received the most publicity, which revealed the fragility of the criminal justice system, is the Chamberlain case. On 17 August 1980 Azaria Chamberlain went missing from a camp…