Supreme Court Case Study

Question 1

On the first of September I visited the main court complex on Roma Street, Brisbane. During that visit I attended a trial in the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court is the highest court in each state and deals with the most serious offences e.g. Murder and Rape. The Supreme Court can also hear civil matters where the monetary value is above $750,000 (Queensland Courts, 2016; Marmo, De Lint and Palmer, 2012). In Supreme Court trials a jury is often present, the only time a jury is not present is when the defence have opted for a “Judge only trial” (Marmo et al, 2012). The District and Magistrates courts deal with lesser offences such as low level drug offences (Marmo et al, 2012).

Before I went to the courts, I checked the daily

The crime control model does not distinguish between factual guilt and legal guilt, it deals with them as one and the same. (Marmo et al, 2012). This model of justice is often seen in the Magistrates court where there are less serious crimes and is not usually evident in the District or Supreme Courts. The crime control model is more concerned with speed and maintaining public order, whereas the due process model is concerned with the presumption of innocence (Marmo et al,

I believe that the crime control model would have been used during the evidence gathering stage of the investigation and when the prosecution would have been deciding whether or not there was enough evidence to go to a trial (Marmo et al, 2012). The due process model would have been used during the hearing stage of the trial. I believe that Judge Ryrie was careful to be sure that the defendant had a fair trial. I was evident when the jury was out of the room, the defendant seemed to be referred to by the prosecution and the judge, with respect and was not treated unjustly, despite the horrible nature of the crime he had been accused