Justice not without issues

Justice? Compare these cases

So you thought you could trust Australia’s justice system to be just?

Compensation

Compensation for an Aboriginal woman

After spending more than two years in prison Jeanie Angel, a 47-year-old Aboriginal woman was acquitted of murder [1].

An all-white jury found her guilty in 1989. She never received a formal apology or compensation.

A$0: Compensation for two years in jail.

Compensation for a white man

A man was falsely arrested and detained in police custody over a minor traffic infringement in March 2004 [2].

A district court judge ordered NSW police to pay compensation to the man. His time in jail: three hours.

A$55,000: Compensation for three hours in jail.

Promoted for what?

‘From little things big things grow’—such as promotions. Even if the little thing was causing death.

Promotion

In 2004 Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley ‘fell’ onto an Aboriginal man he was to arrest for being drunk. The man died a short time after.

After three months on paid leave the sergeant resumed his duties on a different post, effectively having been promoted [3].

Demotion

After posting photographs on his Facebook profile of drunk Aboriginal men in custody a Western Australian policeman was stood down from duty and investigated [4].

The day the Queen lost her case

The following story tells of a judgment Lionel Murphy wrote as a judge of the High Court—Neal v The Queen [9].

“Mr Neal was Council Chairman in Yarrabah, a community in Northern Queensland. This community had a deep sense of grievance about the paternalistic treatment by white authorities,
including the management of the store which was reportedly selling rotten meat.

Mr Neal had argued with the store manager about the management of the reserve. When the discussion reached an impasse, Mr Neal swore at the store manager and spat at him.

For this, Mr Neal was sentenced to two months’ hard labour. On appeal to the Queensland Supreme Court, Mr Neal’s sentence was increased to six months.

Mr Neal then appealed to the High Court, where Lionel Murphy presided.

The year was 1982, and Murphy noted in his judgment the appallingly high rates of Indigenous incarceration at that time - that although Indigenous Australians [then] made up only one per cent of the total population they made up nearly 30 per cent of the prison population.

In addressing the question of Mr Neal’s relatively harsh sentence for what was a seemingly trivial offence, he said:

‘That Mr. Neal was an “agitator” or stirrer in the magistrate’s view obviously contributed to the severe penalty. If he is an agitator, he is in good company. Many of the great religious and
political figures of history have been agitators, and human progress owes much to the efforts of these and the many who are unknown. ... Mr. Neal is entitled to be an agitator.’ (at 317)

Needless to say, Mr Neal’s appeal was allowed.”

Intergenerational imprisonment

Intergenerational imprisonment is a term used to describe the fact that if an Aboriginal child has a parent in jail, there is a higher likelihood that they will also go to jail, creating a vicious cycle [6].

Lawyer Hannah McGlade speaks of “accumulated trauma” in Aboriginal communities which the Western non-Aboriginal courts are ill-equipped to address or resolve [7].

“It’s the level of accumulated trauma that results in family-dysfunction which is a significant cause for the over-contact with the court system.”

Police have to cover huge distances

In the Torres Strait police and Islanders are facing a unique challenge. It’s an area with more than 100 islands, 20 of which are inhabited.

There are only 30 police officers stationed on Thursday Island, in the southern part of the region. This means it can take police anywhere between 6 hours and 3 days to respond to an emergency call, depending on boat and aircraft resources [5].

For some islands the nearest police station is over 200 kilometres away.

On Western Australia’s Dampier Peninsula a multi-functional police station (which can also be used as a courtroom) has eased life in Aboriginal communities which was under-serviced by police. Prior to the station opening police response time was “never or it would take about 24 hours” [8]. Police presence prevents a lot of incidents from happening.

Highly dysfunctional communities benefit from “dramatically” reduced family violence and less substance abuse.

It was the quietest Christmas we've had for a long time because of the general awareness that the police were just down the road.—Andrew Carter, chairman, One Arm Point Community [8]