Hass Year 9 Principles of Justice Assessment
My research table for whether each principle of justice is supported or not and why, what each principle is and what each principle means is on page 2.
OVERVIEW
In this year 9 assessment, we are tasked with assessing wrongfully convicted Australian cases and highlighting what principles of justice were either supported or compromised making the case unjust and how the person was wrongfully convicted. For this assessment, the case I chose was the wrongful conviction of Darryl Beamish.
WHO IS DARRYL BEAMISH?
If you don’t feel like reading or would like to learn more about this case and more like this case go below my writing for a podcast series on the Darryl Beamish and the john button case by The Crime Series Podcast and for books that explore the topic of the wrongfully convicted.
Darryl Beamish, a deaf and mute Western Australian man who was wrongfully convicted of the wilful murder of Jillian brewer who in 1959 was slain in her Cottesloe flat by an intruder who mutilated her body with a pair of dress-making scissors and a tomahawk. According to detective Owen Leitch, 18-year-old Darryl Beamish gave in total 4 confessions which Beamish stated were only said through intimidation and threats from the police (Wikipedia Contributors, 2021). Using those confessions, he was convicted of the murder of Jillian brewer in 1961 and he was given death by hanging which was later commuted to life in prison where he served 15 years in prison.
Case Summary
Darryl Beamish, an Australian deaf and blind man who, when he was 18 was wrongfully convicted of the brutal murder of Jillian Brewer in 1961 who was killed by an intruder in her Cottesloe flat in 1959. He was wrongfully convicted because both the prosecutors and the detectives on the case compromised many principles of justice by creating false confessions, creating a biased jury by mentioning his past offenses towards children, and by dismissing Eric Edgar Cooke’s confession to the murder, all of which created an unfair trial and wrongful conviction. Due to the wrongful conviction, Beamish was first sentenced to death then commuted to life in prison where he served 15 years in prison being released in 1977. On April 1st, 2005, the Western Australian court of appeals exonerated him. There were 45 years in between the time of conviction and exoneration which was the longest ever in Australian history.
WHAT ARE THE PRINCIPLES OF JUSTICE?
The principles of justice are principles that the Western Australian justice system seeks to uphold to reflect equality, fairness, and access in the justice system. An example of a principle of justice is the presumption of innocence until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, meaning that when an accused comes into court the judge and jury must presume that the accused is innocent until the prosecution proves that the accused is guilty of committing the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.
HOW WAS DARRYL BEAMISH WRONGFULLY CONVICTED?
Darryl Beamish was wrongfully convicted because he faced an unfair trial and investigation which both compromised many Principles of Justice creating a miscarriage of justice or a false conviction. Here are some examples of Principles of Justice which were compromised and how they were compromised to wrongfully convict Darryl Beamish:
UNBIASED/IMPARTIAL COURT
An unbiased/impartial court is a principle of justice assuring that the people in court who look over a trial and judge whether the accused is guilty or not mustn’t have opinions on the case before the trial as they could give an unfair punishment towards the accused. An example of this is that the court must get a judge or jury who would have no prior knowledge of the details of the case from sources that could create bias. This principle of justice was compromised in the conviction of Beamish as in court the prosecutors mentioned Beamish’s past offenses of sexual assault on minors, which when mentioned to a jury or judge would create a bias and he would be given unfair treatment.
RELIABLE EVIDENCE
Reliable evidence is evidence used in a case that can be proved to be correct and reliable. In the Darryl Beamish case, this principle of justice was compromised as the evidence that they used to convict Beamish was 4 supposed confessions he had said to detectives, however, he said the detectives threatened and beat him, forcing a false confession. Another reason why those confessions aren’t reliable is due to Beamish being deaf and mute meaning that he wouldn’t really be able to truly understand what position he is in and what the detectives were asking him. In addition to using false confessions, the detectives and the people against Darryl Beamish dismissed known Australian serial killer Eric Edgar Cooke’s 1963 confession to the murder of Jillian Brewer, as they saw the confession as a lie as they thought Eric Edgar Cooke was trying to make himself seem more deadly and famous despite him knowing details about the case which weren’t mentioned to the public.
THE RIGHT TO BE TREATED EQUALLY BY THE COURTS AND POLICE
This principle of justice gives the convicted the right to be treated fairly and equally by both the court and by police. His right to be treated equally was compromised both during the case and in court. Beamish wasn’t treated as equal to others, as especially during that time he was seen as less than human due to him being labelled as “deaf and dumb” (the term given to those who were physically or mentally impaired like being deaf or blind, during the time of the case). People who were labelled as “deaf and dumb” were usually seen as people who are most likely to commit serious crimes as they are thought to not truly understand the concept of right and wrong.
CONCLUSION
Both this case and the trial of Darryl Beamish are some of the most monumental and affecting miscarriages of justice throughout Australian history, and I believe that both had a huge negative effect on the fairness and equality represented in the Australian legal system and in the overall representation and professionalism of the Perth police force. Overall this case will forever be cemented as a huge misconduct and miscarriage in the Australian legal and law enforcement systems and would always throw shade onto the reliability of both systems.
Don’t feel like reading or want to learn more here’s a podcast series on the Darryl Beamish case and John Button case.
WARNING: THE PODCAST CONTAINS SENSITIVE MATERIAL INCLUDING: OFFENSES AGAINST CHILDREN, MURDER, AND VIOLENCE)
part 1:
part 2:
If the podcasts weren’t enough and you want to read some more on the topic here are some books you might want to read:
