JUDGING ALONE NOT REAL JUSTICE?

Stuff reports on the Criminal Procedure (Reform and Modernisation) Bill which “aims to reduce the number of jury trials by raising the threshold from offences punishable by three months' jail, to those punishable by three years”. The headline reads, “Judging Alone Not Real Justice”. I don’t think so.

There are two basic categories of offences and a third that is a hybrid of the first two.



1. Summary Offences – the smaller stuff like: dangerous driving, breach of periodic detention, cannabis supply.
2. Indictable Offences – the big stuff like: rape, murder, arson, supply of class A drugs
3. The hybrid – Summary Offences triable indictably: covering crimes in between.

A Summary Offence means the accused is heard by a judge alone (as opposed to a judge and jury) in the District Court. The hybrid, the Summary Offence triable indictably, means the accused may elect trial by jury. An Indictable Offence means trial by jury for the accused.

I am a lawyer by training. Let me tell you if I was charged with a summary offence triable indictably, and I was innocent, I would definitely elect to have my case heard by a judge alone. If I were guilty I would choose trial by jury. There will be a wealth of precious academic comment from the legal community supporting trial by jury, but, I would wager most lawyers would elect to do the same as me in practice.

Draw your own conclusion.

SAVE THE WHALE

Our blogger mate Cam aka the Whale has doggedly pursued the issue of name suppression. We agree in principle with what he is is trying to do - greater transparency around name suppression.

So because he is fearless we want to draw your attention to his need to raise a war chest to fight the good legal fight. Its going to cost a lot. But at the end of the day all he really wants is a better deal for victims and greater accountability by criminals..

So we have put the widget for his fund up top on the left .. or you can go here for more info.

So we urge you to help us Save the Whale..

TISSUE OF LIES

The Nation has been watching and debating in tearooms, cafes, living rooms and around dining tables throughout the nation as to "Who Did It" Robin or David Bain?
Well, we have it from a good source that the jury or parts of, were so distressed at David Bain's distress that they bought and got delivered a box of tissues to the lanky defendant.
Very irregular, we think. We ask that questions be asked.