3.1.11 costs time and cultural differences impact POJ Flashcards
what are three factors impacting poj
costs, time and cultural differences
what are two sources of legal costs when defending a criminal charge in the court
solicitor fees - required for preparation of the accused persons defence, review prosecutions evidence, planning which witnesses to call; this is expensive
appealing to a higher court - pay filing fee in the appeal court, meet costs of solicitor to prepare witness docs, and costs of a barrister in presenting arguments to judges in the appeal court.
what are measures the court takes to address costs
plea negotiations to solve the case and avoid the costs of a trial.
juries are independent decision makers in serious cases, provided at a no expense to the accused person, promotes fairness.
VLA- when an accused cannot afford legal representation, they can seek free or subsidised legal assistance through VLA or CLC.
time
all accused persons have the right to be tried without unreasonable delay in the victorian rights human charter.
quote of justice delayed
court delays impact on the achievement of justice as ‘justice delayed is justice denied’.
three sources of delays in the court
delays from jury - judges giving directions to. jurors at the beginning of a trial can be time consuming.
a hung jury - meaning no verdict is reached means that there must be a re trial to be conducted, increasing the duration of the case.
appeals result in a delay for final resolution.
what are three measures the court takes to address delays
plea negotiations that achieve early guilty pleas allow for cases to be determined more quickly and save time.
committal proceedings ensure the county court and supreme court are not clogged up by conducting trials in cases where there is no likelihood of a conviction minimising delays in such a case.
magistrates court technology programs ‘online magistrates court’ enables cases to be heard online with parties appearing from a remote location. this program will expand.
what cultural differences do asylum seekers face
generally ahem a lack of knowledge, meaning they don’t know rights . thus victims and accused may not know of VLA and clc. Self defending parties may not know they are entailed to present their own evidence.
measures taken for indigenous peoples
Koori court
aims to decrease First Nations people over representation in the criminal justice system.
