In HASS this term, we looked at how the principles of justices affect the Australian legal system and how the courts cannot always achieve its aim of justice. I chose to research the case of John Button who was wrongfully accused of the wilful murder of his girlfriend, Rosemary Anderson. I discuss how the some of the principles were not supported and how some were. I really enjoyed this task because it helped to deepen my understanding of the Australian principles of justice and the importance of taking strong notes and converting it into an essay that I can later improve upon.
The aim of the Australian legal system is to ensure that justice is achieved by punishing criminals and proving the innocence of those who didn’t commit the crime they have been accused of. However, this cannot always be achieved and there are some mistakes. The principles of justice help guide the courts and legal officials in their judgement by creating rules that must be followed when obtaining and presenting evidence in court. An example of the principles not being followed in a trial is the case of John Button. The compromised principles were the right to appeal, equal treatment before the law and the burden and standard of proof and an example of a supported principle is the role of precedent.
After an argument between Button and his girlfriend, Rosemary Anderson, Anderson stormed off away from the house of Button’s parents. Button later followed her until they ran into a subway and Anderson entered alone. Button stopped for a cigarette before entering where he found Anderson’s body that had sustained serious head injuries. Button carries Anderson’s body to the local doctors’ office where Anderson dies of her head injuries. The doctor calls the police and they take Button for questioning. During interrogation, Button is repeatedly struck by police until he signs a confession admitting to killing Anderson. In court, Button is found guilty of manslaughter and is sentenced to 10 years hard labor and serves 5 before he is released on parole for good behavior. After the release of Button, the suspected serial killer who admitted to the willful murder of Anderson and many others, Eric Cooke is executed by hanging.
Right to silence is a principle in place to ensure that people will feel safe and know that they won’t say anything to hurt their case. This is important in our legal system because it allows the accused to remain silent until they are with legal representation. In the Button case, during interrogation, Button was not given legal representation and the result is corruption as the police used brutality to get a false confession. If there was no confession the outcome would have most likely been much different and it may have kept an innocent man out of jail. Another part of. A way to stop these problems and achieve justice is to make confessions with no legal representation worth nothing in court unless there is video footage of the interrogation and that the accused had said what they allegedly did.
The burden and standard of proof is to make sure that the evidence and witnesses in court are legitimately obtained and for the prosecution to produce in the judge/jury’s mind(s) that the accused is guilty beyond reasonable doubt. This plays a large role in the Australian legal system because it sets the role for the jury and helps to ensure that the case is fair by enforcing the prosecution and defence to only present evidence that will help their cases and not waste time to lengthen a trial. In the Button appeal, the prosecution presented Anderson’s body had sustained injuries from
being struck by a car and Button had similar damage to his car but the defence presented photos from a crash 3 weeks before the death of Anderson in a claim to Button’s insurance company. This played a large role in his release because it was good proof as it was backed by an experiment by crash expert, William Haight, in which the cars driven by Button and Cooke were driven into crash dummies to simulate humans and the results were shown in court by the defence. This principle cannot be changed to make it more effective because it is already a great, fair principle in our legal system.
Equal treatment before the law states that it is of the most importance that everyone to walk through the court doors as the accused is innocent until proven guilty and is treated equally no matter factors irrelevant to the case such as religion, gender identity, sexuality, wealth or any other factor that may change a judge/jury member’s mind. This is crucial in our legal system because it means that everyone is treated fairly so the outcome can be best achieved. This was compromised in the Button case as Button’s diagnosed stutter was perceived by the police interrogating him as nervousness as they believed he just murdered Anderson with no support while he was distraught. Another compromised part of equal treatment was that Button didn’t have legal representation during the interrogation and therefore the police were able to assault him until he signed a confession and with legal representation present Button would have known that he didn’t have to sign it. I believe that the best way to fix this issue is to have all medical records accessible in court trials and appeals that can be used to back interrogations.
Although there are principles that were compromised in the Button case there are some that were supported with one being the role of precedent. This is in place to make sure that all similar cases are treated the same as past cases where applicable and is important to uphold because it shows the defence and prosecution what has happened before and how their case might turn out. This came into effect where Button’s lawyer said to him, “Tell me you did it John and I can get you off with the lighter sentence of manslaughter. (rather than willful murder) Otherwise, they’ll hang you.” Due to the lawyer’s previous knowledge, he knows that cases such as Button’s, the charge for manslaughter is 10 years imprisonment and that what he was being charged for, willful murder, was execution by hanging. Due to this knowledge, it totally changed the case and for the better because if he was found guilty or a crime he didn’t commit would be breaking Blackstone’s ratio and he would be wrongfully murdered. The role of precedent is a great principle because it gives both the defence and prosecution an objective that they can fall to and the accused can plead innocent rather than risking a much larger punishment.
Ultimately, the Australian legal system cannot always achieve its goal of justice but with the help of the principles of justice to guide the courts, legal representation and accused, it makes the Australian legal system one of the fairest in the world and makes sure that everyone is treated equally and can have a fair trial to prove their innocence.
