A crime is an act punishable by the state that causes harm or discontent against a community or individual. Crime is known to be “an action or omission that constitutes an offense that may be prosecuted by the state and is punishable by law”1. Crime can be classified through a variety of elements which violate the rights of a community at large. Acts of crime are punishable upon proof of guilt that are presented in the court of law. Consequently, criminal law is the law which defines these crimes and may aid or establish their subsequent punishments. These criminal laws are enforced through criminal procedures and trials. These trials however, can be influenced, corrected, and sometimes even regulated by the media. This creates a strong issue of injustice and unfair trial within society, and may prove to be detrimental to the foundations of just law and punishment.
The term “trial by media” is used when individuals and others involved in court proceedings or cases believe that media coverage and opinion has infringed their rights to a fair trial. This often includes the idea that the information published throughout the media, can influence the juries decision and override a just and fair decision process, therefore not allowing the individual to have the right to pleading innocent until proven guilty. There have been many incidents and cases that have resulted in the media publishing incorrect judgements, or creating their own finality or illegitimate opinion on a case, therefore publishing headlines that incline bias. This tends to infringe the judiciary’s role, that have not yet created a sentence for the individual. This means that the jury could easily walk into the court room, already having the knowledge of invalid media...
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...ated: 17 November 2011
Dictionary
www.dictionary.reference.com/browse
Copyright 2011
BBC News On This Day (1950 - 2005) “Your Memories Of The Dingo Baby Trial”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/witness/october/29/newsid_4395000/4395984.stm
D’Arcy, William Theodore - Bill D’Arcy Support Group “Victim of Trial By Media”
http://www.apersonalhistory.com/Bill_D'Arcy/frBillAppeal.html
Lawrence, Kara Daily Telegraph “Inside the Mind of Evil Predator”
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/inside-the-mind-of-evil-predator-convicted-paedophile-dennis-ferguson/story-e6freuy9-1225776838465
Dated: September 19, 2009
BOOKS:
Miller, Frederic P “Trial By Media” VDM Publishing House Ltd. 2010
Totaro, Paola “Born or Bred?: Martin Bryant” Fairfax Books, 2009
Writer, Larry “The Australia Book Of True Crime” Pier 9 Publishing 2008
If the judge finds that media coverage would interfere materially with the rights of a party to a fair trial, he/she shall deny permission for media coverage. COR 16.02(b).
The news reports crime daily. Crime is something that we cannot run from in today’s society; so we depend highly upon the justice system. Criminal Justice is a major concern. Criminal Justice consists of three areas: our police, courts and corrections department. The Criminal Justice system was put in place by these agencies, and established by the governments to help control the crimes and applies penalties to those that violate the law. Many people feel that the criminal justice system is there to protect and serve while others feel that the criminal justice system fails them daily.
The trial of the century, as the O.J. Simpson case came to be known brought the world to a standstill. The publicity before, during and after the trial proceedings was the astonishing. Pretrial publicity brought upon issues that required the application of relevant cases and the amendments of the constitution. With such a famous person as the main suspect in a murder trial the media wanted to provide as much information to the public as they possibly could. The 1st Amendment of the United States gives the media a right to gather and report information to the public. (Sager, 1994-1995) The 6th Amendment allows all persons to have a fair trial; this is a concern to the defendants, if the media is providing information to the public that could later be used at trial. For example, the media wanted to have access to the 911 audio tape of the 1989 call that Nicole Brown Simpson made to the police. (Burleigh, 1994) In this tape, O.J. Simpson can be heard in the background angry and yelling obscenities towards Nicole. You can also hear Nicole trying to calm him down. These audio tapes were to be a large part of the trial, but whether they would be admissible or excluded had yet to be determined. If the public obtained these tapes, they would be played all throughout the TV and transcribed into the newspapers and tabloid magazines. Releasing this information could potentially contaminate the jury pool and cause an unfair biased towards the defense. Eventually, with the California Public Records Act the audio tapes were released to the public before they were approved for trial. (Burleigh, 1994)
At trial, your life is in the palms of strangers who decide your fate to walk free or be sentenced and charged with a crime. Juries and judges are the main components of trials and differ at both the state and federal level. A respectable citizen selected for jury duty can determine whether the evidence presented was doubtfully valid enough to convict someone without full knowledge of the criminal justice system or the elements of a trial. In this paper, juries and their powers will be analyzed, relevant cases pertaining to jury nullification will be expanded and evaluated, the media’s part on juries discretion, and finally the instructions judges give or may not include for juries in the court. Introduction Juries are a vital object to the legal system and are prioritized as the most democratic element in our society, aside from voting, in our society today.
Through the past 50 years the television camera has become a part of human nature. Each channel is there to represent a different aspect of society. It has given society the ability to witness traumatic world events, infamous police investigations and debates in the House of Commons from the comfort of their own home. The question remains unanswered, why is the public not able to observe a courtroom trial on television? Some claim that the media would distort the whole process having a negative impact on jury, however, if certain protocols are followed there would be no conflicts concerning cameras in the courtroom. The media should be able to film trials in the courtroom as it would create a better society.
“ Criminal law is the body of law that relates to crime.” (Wikipedia, 2014) This law encompasses several different aspects of our government and the ways used to regulate them. Maintaining the peace and order of the public is one aspect. Law enforcement officers also try to keep good conduct of the public. Anyone who places the safety of the public in jeopardy, is in violation of this law. Punishment is used in a variety of ways to discipline any person who breaks these laws. There are four main sources used in today’s criminal law:
They are the impartial third-party whose responsibility is to deliver a verdict for the accused based on the evidence presented during trial. They balance the rights of society to a great extent as members of the community are involved. This links the legal system with the community and ensures that the system is operating fairly and reflecting the standards and values of society. A trial by jury also ensures the victim’s rights to a fair trial. However, they do not balance the rights of the offender as they can be biased or not under. In the News.com.au article ‘Judge or jury? Your life depends on this decision’ (14 November 2013), Ian Lloyd, QC, revealed that “juries are swayed by many different factors.” These factors include race, ethnicity, physical appearance and religious beliefs. A recent study also found that juries are influenced by where the accused sits in the courtroom. They found that a jury is most likely to give a “guilty” verdict if the accused sits behind a glass dock (ABC News, 5 November 2014). Juries also tend to be influenced by their emotions; hence preventing them from having an objective view. According to the Sydney Morning Herald article ‘Court verdicts: More found innocent if no jury involved’ (23 November 2013), 55.4 per cent of defendants in judge-alone trials were acquitted of all charges compared with 29 per cent in jury trials between 1993 and 2011. Professor Mark Findlay from the University of Sydney said that this is because “judges were less likely to be guided by their emotions.” Juries balance the rights of victims and society to a great extent. However, they are ineffective in balancing the rights of the offender as juries can be biased which violate the offender’s rights to have a fair
Johnson, J., Keyzer, P., Holland, G., Pearson, M., Rodrick, S., & Wallace, A 2011, Juries and social media, Victorian Department of Justice, viewed 8 May 2014, < http://www.sclj.gov.au/agdbasev7wr/sclj/documents/pdf/juries%20and%20social%20media%20-%20final.pdf>.
The issue of pretrial publicity is a maze of overlapping attentions and interwoven interests. Lawyers decry pretrial publicity while simultaneously raising their own career stock and hourly fee by accumulating more if it. The media both perpetrate and comment on the frenzy -- newspapers and television stations generate the publicity in the first place and then actively comment on the likely effect that the coverage will have on the trial. When a high profile case is brought to trial, many media outlets report not only on the details of the trial, but also details about the persons involved, in particular the defendant. Much of the information reported regarding the case is released before the trial starts. Furthermore, media outlets may not only report facts, but also present the information in a way that projects the culpability of the defendant. By allowing pretrial publicity of court cases, potential jurors are given information that could sway their opinion of the defendant even before the trial begins, and how they interpret the evidence given during the trial. The right of a criminal defendant to receive a fair trial is guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The right of the press, print and electronic media, to publish information about the defendant and the alleged criminal acts is guaranteed by the First Amendment. These two constitutional safeguards come into conflict when pretrial publicity threatens to deprive the defendant of an impartial jury. However, there is a compromise between these two Constitutional rights, which would allow for the selection of an impartial jury and allow the media to report on the details of the case. The media should only be able to report information once the trial has...
A jury is a panel of citizens, selected randomly from the electoral role, whose job it is to determine guilt or innocence based on the evidence presented. The Jury Act 1977 (NSW) stipulates the purpose of juries and some of the legal aspects, such as verdicts and the right of the defence and prosecution to challenge jurors. The jury system is able to reflect the moral and ethical standards of society as members of the community ultimately decide whether the person is guilty or innocent. The creation of the Jury Amendment Act 2006 (NSW) enabled the criminal trial process to better represent the standards of society as it allowed majority verdicts of 11-1 or 10-2, which also allowed the courts to be more resource efficient. Majority verdicts still ensure that a just outcome is reached as they are only used if there is a hung jury and there has been considerable deliberation. However, the role of the media is often criticized in relation to ensuring that the jurors remain unbiased as highlighted in the media article “Independent Juries” (SMH, 2001), and the wide reporting of R v Gittany 2013 supports the arguments raised in the media article. Hence, the jury system is moderately effective in reflecting the moral and ethical standards of society, as it resource efficient and achieves just outcomes, but the influence of the media reduces the effectiveness.
The criminal justice system is composed of three parts – Police, Courts and Corrections – and all three work together to protect an individual’s rights and the rights of society to live without fear of being a victim of crime. According to merriam-webster.com, crime is defined as “an act that is forbidden or omission of a duty that is commanded by public law and that makes the offender liable to punishment by that law.” When all the three parts work together, it makes the criminal justice system function like a well tuned machine.
Crime is some action/omission that causes harm in a situation that the person/group responsible ‘ought’ to be held accountable and punished irrespective of what the law book of state say.
A criminal is obviously an individual who commits a crime, but what is crime? A crime is any act or omission of an act in violation of a public law. Though most laws are common throughout America, some laws are also established by local and state governments as well. Criminal laws and penalties vary from state to state. Crimes include both felonies and misdemeanors. Felonies are serious crimes like murder or rape and are punishable by imprisonment for a year or more. The consequence for felonies such as murder and treason can be the death penalty. Misdemeanors are less serious crimes like petty theft or speeding and are punishable by less than a year in prison. Fines are also punishments of both misdemeanors and felonies. The fine’s amount is determined by the seriousness of the case. However, no act is a crime unless it has been stated as such by an American law or statute.
Crime and society are inseparable since time memorial. They are interrelated. Dating back the history, it is an undaunted fact that ever since human beings started living together commission of crime erupted” (Patel, 2011). Since the time of the Founding Fathers of the United States fought for their freedom from England, they had a vision of what the United States could be. To ensure their vision would come to fruition they developed the Constitution as well as a Bill of Rights to ensure the people had rights that could not be taken from them. To bring social order to the communities the government then implemented laws to ensure there would be punishments for the actions of the citizens. Over time society has also determined a sense of morality and these morals change determined by the culture of the area that one may come from. America is a melting pot of many different cultures, nationalities, religions, and people. With in these different demographics of the nation the morals and values that some may consider the “unwritten laws” of the land will change. One must now determine when these laws that imposed by the government and also their culture, what is crime. Some would say that any violation of either laws would be considered criminal activity, while others would say that defiance of only the laws of the government is criminal activity. Who is correct? Does it have to be one or the
Laws serve several purposes in the criminal justice system. The main purpose of criminal law is to protect, serve, and limit human actions and to help guide human conduct. Also, laws provide penalties and punishment against those who are guilty of committing crimes against property or persons. In the modern world, there are three choices in dealing with criminals’ namely criminal punishment, private action and executive control. Although both private action and executive control are advantageous in terms of costs and speed, they present big dangers that discourage their use unless in exceptional situations. The second purpose of criminal law is to punish the offender. Punishing the offender is the most important purpose of criminal law since by doing so; it discourages him from committing crime again while making him or her pay for their crimes. Retribution does not mean inflicting physical punishment by incarceration only, but it also may include things like rehabilitation and financial retribution among other things. The last purpose of criminal law is to protect the community from criminals. Criminal law acts as the means through which the society protects itself from those who are harmful or dangerous to it. This is achieved through sentences meant to act as a way of deterring the offender from repeating the same crime in the future.