What Can We Do You For? Naive Conceptions of the Value of Indigenous Culture and Communities

In a community which enacts laws to protect things of value,we need to be very specific about what conceptions of value we attach to the things protected. This articles argues that current laws and protocols which exist to preserve and protect Indigenous cultures and communities are usually based on an inadequate construction of intrinsic value

Erasing the Bias Against Using Artificial Intelligence to Predict Future Criminality: Algorithms are Color Blind and Never Tire

Many problems in the criminal justice system would be solved if we could accurately determine which offenders would commit offenses in the future. The likelihood that a person will commit a crime in the future is the single most important consideration that influences sentencing outcomes. It is relevant to the objectives of community protection, specific deterrence, and rehabilitation. The risk of future offending is also a cardinal consideration in bail and probation decisions. Empirical evidence establishes that judges are poor predictors of future offending—their decisions are barely more accurate than the toss of a coin. This undermines the efficacy and integrity of the criminal justice system. Modern artificial intelligence systems are much more accurate in determining if a defendant will commit future crimes. Yet, the move towards using artificial intelligence in the criminal justice system is slowing because of increasing concerns regarding the lack of transparency of algorithms and claims that the algorithms are imbedded with biased and racist sentiments. Criticisms have also been leveled at the reliability of algorithmic determinations. In this Article, we undertake an examination of the desirability of using algorithms to predict future offending and in the process analyze the innate resistance that human have towards deferring decisions of this nature to computers. It emerges that most people have an irrational distrust of computer decision-making. This phenomenon is termed “algorithmic aversion.” We provide a number of recommendations regarding the steps that are necessary to surmount algorithmic aversion and lay the groundwork for the development of fairer and more efficient sentencing, bail, and probation systems

The nature of juristic paradigms : exploring the theoretical and conceptual relationship between adversarialism and therapeutic jurisprudence

Problem solving courts appear to achieve outcomes which are not common in mainstream courts. There are increasing calls for the adoption of more “therapeutic” and “problem solving” practices by mainstream judges in civil and criminal courts in a number of jurisdictions, most notably in the United States and Australia. Currently, a judge who sets out to exercise a significant therapeutic function is quite likely to be doing so in a specialist court or jurisdiction, outside the mainstream court system, and, arguably, from outside the adversarial paradigm itself. To some extent, his work is tolerated but marginalized. But do therapeutic and problem solving functions have the potential to define, rather than complement, the role of judicial officers? The basic question addressed in this paper is, therefore, whether the judicial role could evolve to be not just less adversarial, but fundamentally non-adversarial. In other words, could we see--or are we seeing--a paradigm shift not just in the colloquial, casual sense of the word, but in the strong, worldview changing sense meant by Thomas Kuhn

Lockhart review into human cloning and research involving human embryos - closing the gap?

A critical analysis of the Lockhart Report - a statutory review of the Prohibition of Human Cloning Act 2002 (Cth, and the Research Involving Human Embryos Act 2002 (Cth)

Duty to the court and the administration of justice: some examples, implications and clarifications

No liberal democracy can survive without popular trust in its judicial system. The legal profession and the judiciary enjoy a level of independence and autonomy from the executive that makes them both powerful and privileged. A UNIQUE AND ORGANIC DUTY: So long as the courts are seen to fulfil their duty to guard against encroachments by the executive on the freedoms and rights of individual citizens with integrity and credibility, they maintain enough public support to retain their normative authority. But support for those with power and privilege is easily undermined. It is contingent upon trust. Lawyers who breach that trust in ways that go to the heart of the legal system ought to expect to be made examples of and to suffer severe penalties. The good news is that the sorts of breach discussed here should be neither difficult to anticipate nor to avoid – in theory. In practice, smart and honest lawyers sometimes fall foul of these duties for all sorts of understandable (if not condonable) reasons. Law does not get practised in a social or cultural vacuum. Lawyers are people, and people have weaknesses, failings and stresses..

An Adversarial Quagmire

Critical analysis of recent Queensland Court of Appeal decision - issues related to language and cultural barriers - obligations to cater for Indigenous witnesses and complaints - conclusion that the court system seems incapable of catering to the needs of those with diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds

Editorial: Maintaining the ethic of service

This issue of Precedent is concerned with professional legal ethics. ln my view, professional ethics are rules about how you do your job, based on moral principles. By virtue of the nature of the work they do, the reputation of the institution through which they are admitted to practice (the court), and the consequences that can flow if they act inappropriately or incompetently, lawyers are under constant scrutiny in all aspects of their lives. Errors, omissions or misdeeds in both their professional and their personal lives have the potential to damage them, their clients, the profession itself and the court. We ought never to take for granted the trust the public places in us to preserve the integrity of the legal system itself, especially in times when that system may be under threat, either from without or from within

What really happened versus what we can prove: tension between the coroner and the DPP

According to Queensland law, any death which occurs in police custody must be subject to a coronial inquest. Such an investigation is required by best practice guidelines to have regard, where applicable, for the recommendations and findings of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody and to be conducted in such a way as to be more sensitive and compassionate towards families than has been the case in the past. This article considers the coronial inquest of Mulrunji, a 36-year-old Aboriginal man resident on Palm Island, who died in police custody in the Palm Island watch-house on 19 November 2004