Scott Austic Trial
The principles of justice principles are important because they keep the country fair and everyone is treated the same no matter who they are. For example, one of the principles of justice is that everyone has the right to a fair hearing, this means that anyone even if they seem as though they are guilty still gets a trial where their case is investigated properly and fairly. Some other principles of justice are the right to an appeal, the presumption of innocence and high-quality evidence. These principles demonstrate that the Australian government has tried very hard to make the justice system fair for everyone involved.
In 2007, a man named Scott Austic was accused of killing his pregnant girlfriend in Boddington, Western Australia. Stacey Thorne was stabbed 21 times with a 15-centimetre knife, and the police first found nothing at the crime scene except her body inflicted with stab wounds. Three days later, the crime scene was examined again, and various pieces of evidence were discovered that linked the murder to Scott. Scott had claimed to of gone to the pub for some bourbons before being refused service, he made his way to Stacey’s house to see her and went home around two hours later. This case indicates that the Western Australian Police conduct investigations in an incorrect manner.
The only element required to reach a decision in court is evidence; yet, the Scott Austic Trial had numerous issues with the principle of justice “High-Quality Evidence.” All cases require a large amount of high-quality evidence so that the judge and jury may be 99 percent certain of the outcome. One of the examples of this is a cigarette package found at Scott Austin’s house with Stacey Thornes’ blood on it was not on the table during the original search, indicating that the evidence was planted. In a video of the overview of Scott’s house, you can see that the table where an opposed cigarette packet is supposed to be is not. Another example of high-quality evidence is the murder weapon which was found close to Stacey Thornes’s body, this was originally not looked at twice as it had her blood on it and was clearly a similar knife to the one used. Later on, in the case, it was discovered that the knife which killed Stacey was 15 cm long and this knife was only 10cm, this caused a lot of confusion and after talking to the FBI team who searched the area it was found they said that after a thorough search they did not find this knife. This case indicates that the Western Australian Police conducted this investigation in an incorrect manner. The discovery of this false evidence did cause the police to rethink their decision and they gave Scott the justice he deserved.
There are a number of principles that are designed to provide justice through universal basic fairness and equality for all citizens of Australia who are in the legal system, these are called the principles of justice. These principles are important because they keep the country fair and everyone no matter who they are getting treated the same. For example one of the principles of justice is that everyone has the right to a fair hearing, this means that anyone even if they seem as though they are guilty still gets a trial where their case is investigated properly and fairly.
Several principles of justice were broken in the Scott Austic trial, including the presumption of innocence and the use of high-quality evidence. Scott has wasted 12 years of his life in prison as a result of these injustices. This has had an impact on Scott’s life as well as his family’s. The killer of Stacey Thorn and her baby has yet to be identified, and the case has been classified as a cold case. The police department continues to welcome additional information on the case, but it is doubtful that the killer will come forwards after so many years on the run. I hope the Police do not make any more life-threatening mistakes, but I am confident it will happen again.
Mr Basell June 11, 2022
Good work!
Ben Basell June 18, 2022
Good second paragraph. You might want to conclude with a comment about how the police misconduct affected the justice that Austic received.