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Punishment, the Courts and Access to Justice in Rural Australia - Coggle…
Punishment, the Courts and Access to Justice in Rural Australia
Access to services in the rural
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights define the rights
Equality of access to institutions of the law and equality before the law are an expectation of most democratic nations
Elements that shape access, gender, race, ethnicity, class, disability, housing, literacy, geography compounds these issues when we consider urban vs rural
Influences that shape access to services
Distances to services
Lower levels of education
Availability of services
Poorer health conditions
Lower income
Access to the courts
Between 1983- 2000 Victorian magistrate courts were reduced from 119 to 65 and then to 54 by 2015
Similar patterns in other states, 79 such courts closed in QLD between 1990 and 1995
in 1880 Victoria had courts at 235 locations, advances in transportations, population shifts and maintenance costs saw many close
Reduction of sitting houses, services and centralisation of courts in metro areas
Stark choice of courts in rural areas - middle of sentencing range (intermediate range) is missing
Bush Courts
While such distances can be curbed with technology were feasible, the absence of the important legal symbols such as a courthouse can diminish the applicability and relevance of law in the minds of the community
Darwin, Alice Springs and Katherine etc smaller communities present a deeper challenge
NSW DV - two incidents this year of picking up women who have been hitchhiking to court with children
Postcode Justice report indicated that 79% of respondents felt rural communities were disadvantaged due to the distance they had to travel to courts
Juries - racial mix of jurors, strain on resources - NT law reform committee widened jury districts to allow aboriginal participation.
Bush courts in gov or community owned building (eg a room in a police station)
Majority of bush courts is sentencing indigenous defendants (comprise of 30% of the Territory population.
Access to Diversion Programs and Specialist Courts
Unbeilable in rural and regional areas
Adhere to therapeutic model of Justice, moves beyond punishment to trying to address the underlying reasons for criminal behaviour
McCausland (2013 study of 10,000) offenders in NSW found that 8% had an intellectual disability and 77% had a mental health condition (including AoD disorder)
Since 2000, offenders of aboriginal descent with AoD issues, mental health issues, for family violence
Sentencing Options
Inequitable delivery of justice in terms of sentencing options available to people who live in rural and remote areas.
An inquiry into community based sentencing options found that alternatives to prison offered through community based sentences are not available in rural and remote areas of NSW (Legislative Standing Committee on Law and Justice)
Home detention, good behaviour bonds, and community service orders and intensive supervision linked to programs run by the Drug Court of NSW and Youth Drug and Alcohol Court.
Imprisonment is meant to be as a last resort, this is not the case for offenders from rural communities where there are no alternatives
Unfair as if in Sydney they would be given a lesser sentence
Rural Risk Environment - Opioid related harms (or alcohol and drug use more generally).
When sentenced to prison, they are usually transported away from the community, removing them from family and support networks and reducing their change of being rehabilitated
Absence of reliable technologies, in the case of home detention - relies on sophisticated electronic surveillance equipment, drug testing facilities.
Periodic detention requires good transport (public or private) that is not easily available in rural areas.
Legal representation and advovacy
81% of legal services based within capital cities
Legal Aid is the primary agencies supporting legal representation in criminal cases
Access to specialised solicitors is poor therefore calls into question equality before the law
Access to Justice
Kyle et al (2014) rural lawyers less likely to acknowledge conflicts of interest, itself often a consequence of being part of a smaller fraternity of lawyers.
Lack of effective dialogue with often fragmented rural interests, against the influence of organised and powerful interest group
Jack of all trades master of none
IT - Info and Communications
Hold capacity to better respond to clients needs
Online mediation, collaborative lawyering etc
ICT slow and staggered, tech barriers, internet access, city centric approach to decision making and resources
Rural poorest resourced,
Prisons in rural communities
The "geography" of punishment; prison building programs on the urban fringes or rural area of the state - banishing punishment from public view
Most prisons in NSW are located outside of the metro region (18 of 27)
For policy makers this is ideal, out of sight out of mind.
Attractive to build, economic reasons; shear cost of building prisons, making urban land values prohibitive,
Rural communities resist building of prisons, as they disrupt the bucolic images of the rural ideal - characterised by images of nature, simplicity, stability, and harmony. Fear of break outs, stigma to the community