Voice of the People - Aborigines , Judical Determinism and the Criminal Justice System in Australia (From Aborigines and Criminal Justice, P 173-294, 1984, Bruce Swanton, ed. - See NCJ-95993)

• NCJ Number: 96001
• Author(s): J McCorquodale
• Date Published: 1984
• Length: 121 pages
• Sale Source: Australian Institute of Criminology
• Language: English
• Country: Australia

Annotation

A total of 235 reported and unreported criminal court decisions involving aboriginal defendants were analyzed, mostly at the Supreme Court (or higher) level. Civil cases were included in the analysis to the extent that they revealed judicial attitudes or judicial bias toward Aborigines.

Abstract

The decisions were categorized as follows: Aborigines as subjects of white man's criminal justice; Aborigines as subjects in need of protection or welfare; equality of black and white legal treatment; judicial awareness of cultural differences; supervision of magistrates by superior courts; Aborigines and alcohol, drunkenness, and drink-related crime; aboriginal testimony; interrogation of or confessions by Aborigines; legal defenses; trial punishment as a mitigating factor in determining penalties for offenses against white man's law; principles and objects of sentencing; and the effect of imprisonment. Examination of the judgments cited suggests Aborigines as 'not quite civilized.' Judicial self-denial has been preferred to judicial innovation except in procedural matters, and Aborigines continue to undergo the lottery of judicial bias.