Interpreters in the Criminal Justice System.

Since the passing of the Criminal Code in our state there has been a right to an interpreter where a jury is satisfied the accused cannot understand the proceedings. This is all very well and good so long as it actually happens. Upon being told that many accused indigenous people who speak creole or pigeon English are not assisted in such a manner and worse yet their advocates are not invoking their right to such assistance floors me. The discussion then came to how we go about effecting change in the system. One suggestion is that until such skills have a cash value attached to them nobody would take an elective in the area while studying.

I would like to believe this is not true, however I can only think of two people who might be an exception to this rule.

The university really flogs the ‘indigenous justice’ horse, we get it on an academic level but only in a superficial way. The fact that many indigenous people are being incarcerated due to cultural linguistic differences that very people are aware of and even less actually care about is frankly disturbing. We spend so much time examining what is wrong with the system to result in overrepresentation and have very few answers that can immediacy affect change. Enforcing these rules, or creating some incentive (it appears delivery of justice is not incentive enough) to advocate the rights of these accused in this way may be one step towards change in our system.

Back to pushing shit up hill.

Uni is back on and is starting to gain momentum.

Assessment is not due for a month or so but as per usual getting started early because last minute essay writing and research sucks!

Recently ran into a past Jessup competitor and they have me freaking out! I am going to have a coffee with him in a few days so I can pick his brain. Still freaking out about it.

I entered into a Client Legal Interviewing competition with a great friend (we did the first year moot together) I am feeling pretty confident about our chances, this probably means we will be total crap. Looking forward to it nonetheless, at least the preparation involved is nowhere near the epic amount that needs to be invested into a Moot comp.

For one of my subjects I need to write a reflective journal on that weeks’ topic for the next 13 weeks. The Subject is Policing Diversity. I will be posting it on here. Maybe it will generate some discussion? Or totally alienate all 5 of my readers… Hi Michael! *waves*

My old man is a cop and my policing subjects have provided hours of discussion and debate. The best has been about policing discretion and how it is used, he is convinced there is no such thing… I could not even begin to wrap my head around how he can make such a statement. For that subjects’ final assessment it was an essay on whatever policing subject I wanted. I chose police discretion, not just because it is an interesting area but was guaranteed to tick Dad off. It was only after reading about the different theories of police discretion did I see where he was coming from (and still totally disagreed). I am hoping this subject will do the same.

And now I have Trust study to do.

Reflection Week 1

Week 1 Policing diversity

When I first started to read about the topic of police diversity I was a little unsure as to what ‘diversity’ it topic was making reference to. Was it diversity within the institution of policing or the diversity of situations, people and places police come into contact with? Both areas of diversity have an impact on how police, police.
An element of policing that until recently I had not put any real thought into was the diversity of targeted policing methods such as drug squads and RBT. Without diversity within the policing model more sophisticated crime would probably go un-policed, such as cybercrime as specialist knowledge would be needed to effectively detect and apprehend the offenders.

The range and breadth of events, people and places police come into contact with on day to day biases also highlights the diversity of situations our police encounter. Where diversity within the service/force meets the broad range positions police work in is the Police Liaison Officer. An individual who comes from a minority group is made a part of the police organisation (not having the powers of sworn officers) and used to liaise with the group they are a part of on behalf of the police.

The various assortment of Liaison Officers such as Aboriginal or GLBTIQ (Gay, Lesbian, Bi, Transgender, Intersex and Queer, even as a member of that community I am a little confused about the evolution of that acronym: may not feel that way if I was ‘Intersex’ though) is probably a good thing. However such officers make me a little nervous about the quality of the advice and mediation they would be providing due to their lack of powers and understanding of the law.