Legal HSC 2010 practice essay PDF

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Practice essay response to Legal Studies HSC 2010 Exam...

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2010 - How effective are legal measures within the criminal justice system in achieving justice for individuals? the criminal justice system is the basis of society where its ability to provide justice lays the foundation for compliance by citizens. The effectiveness of the CJS in providing justice is identified in its legal mechanisms and legislatgion that work to balance the rights of victims and offenders. It is the responsibility of the CJS to achieve justice for all parties involved in crimes thus reflecting the values of society, however such a goal is not always achieved due to the complex nature of the law. The use of juries, provocation as a defence and the use of evidence stand as markers within the CJS, representing the varying extents to which justice has been served. Ultimately these show that although in times justice for the accused is limited, the CJS has been overall effective in creating justice for individuals. The use of juries is a indicator of the inability of the criminal justice system to achieve a consistent level of justice for the offenders due to law reform. With the law being centralised on the adversarial system of law, juries are an integral aspect allowing for an impartial judgmenet to be made. R v Cheatle (1993) is a case that shows the use of juries to provide justice for offenders as the High Court ruled that there was an implied right to a unanimous jury for serious indictable offences. Here, juries is seen to be effective in providing justice by upholding the standard of proof in criminal law. However new legislation that reformed the law has meant justice been limited for the accused. The Jury Amendment Act 2006 was a significant piece of legislation that reformed the Jury 1977, allowing for a majority verdict to be accepted where there has been deliberation time of over 8 hours and a unanimous verdict seems unlikely. This was highly important as it shows the law reforming itself in a way that suits community interests over offenders as the notion of a majority verdict seemingly undermines the basis of the adversary system where cases must be proved “beyond reasonable doubt”. The new legislation suggests that the jury was not unanimously convinced of the offenders guilt which shows how the use of law reform has proved detrimental as it impedes upon justice for the accused. Therefore it can be seen that the CJS has fallen short in implementing legal measures that provide justice for individuals, identified in the use of majority verdicts for juries.

Provocation is another test of the criminal justice systems’ effectiveness in providing justice. With the criminal justice system recognising provocation as a defence, legislation was implemented as an attempt to implement legal measure that sought to create justice under this defence. The Crimes Act 1900 was a piece of legislation that outlined the criteria for provocation and identifies that this defence has the capacity to reduce a murder charge to manslaughter. This is significant for the CJS as it shows the law taking into account the circumstances of the crime to provide equal and just outcomes for the accused. Provocation has also been seen to represent the effectiveness of the legal system in achieving justice as it underpins “battered wife syndrome” as seen in R v Smith (2008). Provocation was used to mitigate the murder chargers after the wife killed her husband who had stalked and threatened her family for over twenty years. Ultimately this case showed the CJS aligning with the need for justice for the accussed as it is seen as an acceptable defence after years of physical and psychosocial torment. Provocation as a defence was also highly effective as it took into account the impact on the offender, providing just outcomes by mitigating the liability of the accused because of the circumstances. Hence it can be seen that by

introducing legislation that allows for provocation to be used as a defence, justice has been achieved. Fu r t h e r mor e , t h ec r i mi na lj u s t i c es y s t e mh a si n t r o duc e dl e g a lme a s u r e sr e g a r d i n gt h eu s eo f e v i d e n c ewi t h i nt hec r i mi n a lt r i a lpr o c e s s , a c hi e v i n gj u s t i c eb ye n f o r c i n gc o mp l i a n c e . Ev i d e n c ei sac e nt r a le l e me n tt ot h ec r i mi na lj u s t i c es y s t e m, s u pp o r t i n gc r i mi n a lc h a r g e sa n d a l l o wi n gf o rpr o s e c u t i o nst ob ema d ea n da ss u c h ,t h el a wh a si mp l e me nt e dl e g a lme a s u r e st o e n s u r ec o mpl i a n c ei se ns u r e di nh o we v i d e nc ei so b t a i n e da ndu s e d .Th eEv i d e n c eAc t19 9 5 s e c u r e st h i sc o mp l i a n c eb yo u t l i n i n ga n da p p l y i n gt h er u l e so fe v i d e n c ed e e mi n g“ Ev i d e n c e whi c hi sr e l e v a n ti sg e n e r a l l ya d mi s s i b l e , a nde v i d e n c ewh i c hi si r r e l e v a n ti si n a d mi s s i b l e .By i mp o s i n gr e s t r i c t i o nso nt heu s eo fe v i de n c ewi t h i nt het r i a lp r o c e s s , i te n s u r e sj u s t i c ei s a c h i e v e df o rt h eoffe n d e rb yr e s t r i c t i n ge v i d e n c eb a s e do no p i n i on st ha tma yc a us eb i a s . Th e o we u s eo fDNAa saf o r mo fe v i d e n c ei sak e yme t ho dt oa c h i e v i n gj us t i c ea ss e e ni nRvCr ( 2 0 1 6 ).I nt h i sc a s e ,t h eu s eo fDNAs e c u r e dac o n v i c t i o nf o rap r e v i o u sc o l dc a s e . Th i swa s s i g ni fic a n ta st h eu s eofDNAwi t h i nt h ec r i mi n a lt r i a lp r oc e s se ffe c t i v e l yb a l a n c e dt h el e v e lo f j u s t i c ef o rt h ev i c t i msb yp r o vi d i n ga c c u r a t ec o n v i c t i o n sb a s e donr e l i a b l ee v i d e n c ea swe l la s p r o v i d i n gaf a i rt r i a lf o rCr o wea sDNAe v i d e n c el i mi t st hei n flu e n c eo fb i a s .Fu r t he r mo r e ,t h e c a s es a wj u s t i c eb e i n ga c h i e v e df ort h ev i c t i ma st h eu s eo fe v i d e n c er e mo v e da l lr e a s o na b l e d o ub tf r o mt hej u r y , e x p l i c i t l yp r o v i n gCr o wet ob egu i l t y .He nc ei tc a nb es e e nt h a tb y e n f o r c i n gc o mp l i a n c ea n dp r o v i d i n ga c c u r a c y , t h eu s eo fe v i d e nc eh a se ffe c t i v e l ya c h i e v e d j u s t i c ef o rb o t ho ffe n d e r sa n dvi c t i ms . Th e r e f o r e , i ti se v i d e n tt h a tt h ec r i mi na lj u s t i c es y s t e mh a sa l l o we df ord i ffe r i n gl e v e l so f j u s t i c et ob ea c h i e v e dt h r o u g hl e g a lme a s u r e s .Th eu s eo fj u r i e sa ndma j o r i t yv e r di c t ss ho ws t h ei n a b i l i t yo ft h el e g a ls y s t e mt oa c h i e v ej u s t i c ea si tl i mi t st h ea b i l i t yo ff a i rou t c o me st ob e d e l i v e r e df o ro ffe n d e r s . Ho we v e r ,p r o v o c a t i o na sad e f e n c ea n dt h eu s eo fe v i d e n c ea r eb o t h me c h a ni s mswi t h i nt h eCJ St h a ti n d i c a t ej u s t i c eb e i n ge ffe c t i v e l ya c hi e v e db yu s i n gl e gi s l a t i o n t or e p r e s e n tt h ene e d so fo ffe n d e r sa n dv i c t i m.Ov e r a l l , i ti sc r u c i a lt h a tt h eCJ Si mp l e me n t f u r t h e rl e g a lme a s u r e st oa c h i e v ej u s t i c ef o ra l li n d i v i d u a l swi t h i nt h ec r i mi n a lp r o c e s s ....