Andrew L. Urban.
The full title of Malcolm Gladwell’s book is Talking to Strangers: what we should know about the people we don’t know. For someone who did in fact talk to many, many strangers on the streets of Australia with a TV camera for my prime time SBS program, Front Up in the 90s, the subject matter is irresistible. And the book proved to be unputdownable … plus highly relevant to the subject of wrongful convictions. Continue reading
The Attorney General’s Transparency Branch has a fool proof tactic, straight out of Yes, Minister, to shut down anything it doesn’t want to address. Continue reading
Andrew L. Urban.
The majority of Australians (82%) don’t trust judges’ impartiality, according to the Menzies Research Centre’s (MRC) submission on Judicial Impartiality to the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC), which was tasked with examining the subject by former Attorney General Christian Porter; the ALRC will lodge its report by September 31, 2021. Continue reading
Andrew L. Urban
A young white policeman in the Northern Territory, Zachary Rolfe, is facing trial this week (July 19, 2021) charged with the murder of a young Aboriginal man, Kumanjayi Walker. These words alone trigger preconceptions that will cloud any and all facts of the case that will emerge – and will be tested, torn to shreds or confirmed …. and incompletely reported in the media. Can you see the problem? Continue reading
A sealed envelope on the desk of every incoming Federal Attorney-General contains a short, unsigned, cryptic instruction: “Avoid CCRC”. How do we know this? It’s elementary, my dear Whatsyourname; it’s like this … ANDREW L. URBAN tells a tale you may find hard to believe. Continue reading
BETTINA ARNDT’s update on the infamous Sarah Jane Parkinson case of false rape accusations, and its ongoing damage. Continue reading
Prompted by a reader’s question to our previous What if … story, Flinders University legal academic Dr BOB MOLES lays out how any new appeal could navigate the rules to arrive in court. Continue reading
While waiting for the judges’ decision on her March 2021 appeal, ‘What if the appeal is dismissed,’ ask readers whose confidence in Tasmania’s criminal justice system has been utterly destroyed by the prosecution of Sue Neill-Fraser, convicted in 2010 of the 2009 Australia Day murder of her partner, Bob Chappell? We sought to find out …. Continue reading
Former High Court judge THE HON. MICHAEL KIRBY AC CMG argues that there is a need in Australia for greater concern and vigilance about the risk of miscarriages of justice – and that the Criminal Cases Review Commission model is the way to put that vigilance into effect . . .”without delay”. Continue reading
The psychological consequences of wrongful accusations appear to seriously affect the lives of those accused, even after exoneration or overturning of convictions, according to a study by Samantha K Brooks & Neil Greenberg of King’s College, London, reported in SAGE (for healthcare professionals). Continue reading