Principles of justice are in place to ensure that their is a fair and unbiased investigation and trial. In the Gene Gibson case many principles of justice were compromised causing the trial and investigation to be unfair and biased. Principles of justice that were compromised was equality before the law, right to remain silent and right to fair hearing. On that was supported was the right to appeal.

Gene Gibson was wrongfully convicted for the murder of Josh Warnake and leaving his dead body on the side of the road in Broome. He was sentenced to seven and a half years in jail but only ended up spending 5 years as he was found innocent after he appealed.

In the Gene Gibson case one principle that was compromised was equality before the law. Equality before the law is the right for all individuals to be treated equally regardless of race, religion, mental health. This was violated through the fact that he did not receive a translator, he didnt have highly experienced detectives and the fact that he had cognitive impairment was not taken into consideration. The reason that it is so important to get a translator and to receive a psychological review is because without a translator gene did not understand fully what was going on. And without getting a psychological review is it not even thought over or considered about his mental illness during the trial or sentencing. Cognitive impairment means that he is highly vulnerable in stressful situations and he gets afraid to make people unhappy so when questions are asked, he doesn’t ask for clarification. This meant that numerous times questions were asked and he just agreed with them without actually knowing what he was agreeing to. The way this could be improved is to ensure translators and psychological reviews are given to everybody that needs one.

Another principle of justice compromised was the right to remain silent. Gene was not warned of his right to remain silent. The right to remain silent is when somebody does not have to answer questions in the first interview or when getting arrested. And there is no legal representation in the room which meant he did not have somebody there advising him on the situation. The first-time gene was questioned he did not have a lawyer and was not warned of his right to remain silent. This means that he was answering questions with absolutely no advice or knowledge on the best way to answer them. One way that that this could be improved is for all detectives and police officers to warn anybody no matter what the crime that they have the right to remain silent and they do not need to answer any questions.

One of the very few principles of justice that was supported was the right tit appeal. The right to appeal is when somebody is convicted, they have the right to appeal to a higher court for a second review. After Gene was had spent a few years in jail he was released on bail so that he could appeal that he was innocent. After he appeal, another trial was held which found Gene Gibson not guilty for the death of Josh Warnake. Without the right to appeal Gene would not have been able to be released from jail. This was because they realized a few years later that the trial was biased and not fair and there was no actual evidence against Gene committing the murder.

A principle of justice that was once again compromised was the right to a fair hearing. This means that when a case is being heard all evidence should be true and untampered with. When Gene was on trial a false statement was read to him to try to convince him to plead guilty to the death of Josh Warnake. This caused Gene to wrongfully plead guilty to the death of Josh Warnake and he was sentenced to seven and a half years in jail. Right to a fair hearing was also supported though, Gene had a lawyer in court to represent him although his lawyer may not have been very good, he was still provided with a lawyer. The way to avoid false statements being given in the future is to ensure that their were numerous police officers confirming the statement is true. Also, instead of trying to find evidence that Gene committed the crime look for evidence explaining who did commit the crime.

The Gene Gibson case was very clearly biased and not fair which led to him being wrongfully convicted and sentenced. Many principles of justice were violated like equality before the law, right to remain silent and the right to a fair hearing. Very few were supported one being the right to appeal. Principles of justice are in place to ensure that what happened to Gene does not happen. Clearly when these are violated things go wrong and people are wrongfully convicted.