Anniversary Research Symposium
To mark our 50 year anniversary, we are holding a research symposium 'Reshaping justice: client-centred service delivery, technology and innovation' on Tuesday 20 June 2017 at NSW Parliament House Theatrette, Macquarie St, Sydney. Keynote speaker is leading civil justice authority Dame Hazel Genn QC. Tickets available April 2017.
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Abuse
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Children and young people
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Courts
Data insights in civil justice: NSW Local Court S Forell & C Mirrlees-Black, Law and Justice Foundation of NSW, Sydney, 2016 (NSW)
RESEARCH: In its new Data insights in civil justice series, the Foundation is investigating the quality and utility of NSW civil court and tribunal data to inform policy and practice. This report concerns the Local Court. The authors explore data quality while asking: who is taking action against whom? about what types of matters? what are these matters worth? are matters defended? are parties represented? how do matters progress to finalisation? how long do matters take? and, how are matters finalised? While noting the rich and comprehensive Local Court data held, the authors identified a number of changes which could improve its reliability and utility for policy development, court management and administration.
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Criminal justice system
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Disability
Report of the Jack Brockhoff Foundation Churchill Fellowship to better protect the human rights and dignity of people with disabilities, detained in closed environments for compulsory treatment, through the use of innovative legal services, E Fritze, Winston Churchill Memorial Trust of Australia, 2016
REPORT: This report explores how legal services can better protect the human rights and dignity of people with mental illness and cognitive disabilities who have been detained for compulsory treatment.The report’s author, Eleanore Fritze, a senior lawyer in Victoria Legal Aid’s Mental Health and Disability Law program, was awarded a Churchill Fellowship sponsored by the Jack Brockhoff Foundation to travel to the United States, England and Hungary. She explored issues of access to legal assistance, advocacy on behalf of individuals and the use of strategic advocacy, as well as factors which support high-quality and effective legal services. This report aims to stimulate debate about new possibilities for better access to legal advice and representation by vulnerable people detained across Australia.
Inquiry into abuse in disability services: final report, Family and Community Development Committee, Parliament of Victoria, Melbourne, 2016 (Vic)
INQUIRY REPORT: This report presents findings from the Family and Community Development Committee inquiry into abuse in disability services. It examines why abuse was not reported or acted upon and how it can be prevented. The report identifies the need for a single independent oversight body that can be implemented quickly, with the capacity to prevent and respond to violence against people with disability. The report lists 49 recommendations for the future of the disability sector in Victoria that focus on the interim measures necessary to strengthen the disability services system in Victoria prior to the transition to the NDIS, with a focus on the powers and processes required within a Victorian quality and safeguarding framework.
Domestic and family violence
A national system for domestic and family violence death review, Australian Human Rights Commission, 2017
RESEARCH: This review report highlights the importance of domestic and family violence death review mechanisms in Australia and the limitations of data on Australian domestic and family violence deaths. It reports that of the 479 homicide incidents in Australia from 2010 to 2012, 196 occurred in a domestic context but notes that while a number of Australian entities collect data on homicide, there is no nationwide mechanism to identify whether these deaths occurred in the context of domestic violence. The report identifies the steps needed to expand domestic and family death review processes in jurisdictions where they do not currently exist and the mechanisms that may be required in addressing and safeguarding national data coherence. It also identifies ways of ensuring that recommendations made to Federal Government agencies in death review processes are actioned.
Evaluation
See Courts, Tribunals
Homicide
See Domestic and family violence
Housing
Boarding Houses Education Campaign: final report, MD Nicola, Tenants Union of NSW, Sydney, 2016 (NSW)
EVALUATION: This report reviews the first phase of the Boarding Houses Education Project managed by the Tenants’ Union of NSW which commenced in April 2014. This stated aim of the project was to 'develop and implement an education program to ensure that stakeholders, including residents of boarding houses are aware of the new law in NSW and its application and have the skills to monitor and take action under the relevant provisions of the Boarding Houses Act 2012’. The report is divided into four parts that explore the resource and capacity-building phase of the project: the first documents the history of boarding houses in NSW; the second moves on to describe the aims of the project; the third explores the project’s activities and outcomes; and the fourth sets out recommendations for its future. The report also finds that women are an overlooked population in boarding houses.
Indigenous Australians
An introduction to over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the criminal justice system, ML Macchia, Policy Online, 2016 (Australia)
RESEARCH: This paper reviews the key themes and factors associated with rates of over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the criminal justice system. It reviews literature that evaluates proposals to reduce these rates, highlighting the role that societal attitudes play in affecting the outcomes of policy and legislation. It explores how experiences of modern disadvantage and intergenerational effects can affect incarceration rates and the role of criminal justice actors such as police in influencing these rates and alternative legal solutions. The author suggests that disadvantage upon release might be able to be mitigated by establishment of a national monitoring system to combat recidivism and providing adequate support networks. Attention is also drawn to the uncertainty of diversion programs and suggestions are made about the factors that are needed to create long-term solutions to reduce Indigenous incarceration rates.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander experience of law enforcement and justice services: inquiry report, Senate Finance and Public Administration References Committee Australian Government, Canberra, 2016 (Australia)
INQUIRY REPORT: This is the report of the Senate Finance and Public Administration References Committee’s Inquiry regarding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander experience of law enforcement and justice services. The committee received 51 public submissions as well as confidential submissions and held public hearings in Perth, Sydney, Canberra and Darwin. The report makes 11 recommendations to the Commonwealth Government as a result of this inquiry.
The attrition of Indigenous and non-Indigenous child sexual abuse cases in two Australian jurisdictions, C Bailey, M Powell & SP Brubacher, Psychology, Public Policy and Law, January 2017
RESEARCH: This article investigates justice outcomes for Indigenous children in child sexual abuse matters. The first part of the study compares the stages of progression of Indigenous versus non-Indigenous child sexual abuse cases through the criminal justice system in two Australian jurisdictions. The authors find that in both jurisdictions, Indigenous children were less likely than non-Indigenous children to make an allegation of abuse and to have the case proceeded by public prosecutors. They suggest these findings indicate that it was more difficult for Indigenous cases of suspected child sexual abuse to proceed through the criminal justice system. The second part of the study investigated what case characteristics predicted forensic disclosure in both jurisdictions. The authors found that cases for Indigenous children were less likely to have evidence in the form of a forensic disclosure than non-Indigenous children, and that community-related variables significantly predicted abuse allegations, in both cohorts.
Violence in the lives of incarcerated Aboriginal mothers in Western Australia,
M Wilson et al., 2017
RESEARCH: This report draws on in-depth interviews with incarcerated Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mothers in Western Australia, to investigate women’s use of violence in their relationships with others. The women interviewed were overwhelmingly victims of violence; however, many women report also using violence, primarily as a strategy to deal with their own high levels of victimisation. The authors argue that the 'normalisation' of violence in these women’s’ lives places them at high risk of arrest and incarceration and that this is compounded by a widespread distrust of the criminal justice system and associated agencies, and a lack of options for community support.
Legal need
See also Legal services
Understanding the civil legal needs of Crown Heights residents: A community survey in Brooklyn, WA Reich, et al., Center for Court Innovation, New York, 2016
RESEARCH: This study drew on a convenience sample of 261 Crown Heights, Brooklyn residents regarding their civil legal needs. The purpose of this study was to inform the services provided by the Legal Hand project, a network of storefront legal resource centres that train community volunteers to provide free legal information, assistance and referrals to people with civil legal problems.
The survey focused on the following questions: 1) what are the most common civil legal needs facing community members? 2) how, if at all, do community members currently address these needs? 3) what currently available resources are most highly regarded by community members, and 4) what additional resources do community members think are most needed? The authors draw on the survey findings to suggest recommendations to improve services.
Legal services
See also Legal need
Report on the future of legal services in the United States, Commission on the Future of Legal Services, American Bar Association, 2016
RESEARCH: The American Bar Association’s Commission on the Future of Legal Services report examines ways in which the delivery of, and access to, legal services in the US can be improved. The Commission reviewed a range of information sources including written comments supplied by the public and the profession, testimony at public hearings and meetings, grassroots events across the country, a national summit on innovation in legal services, webinars, and dozens of presentations on the Commission’s work at which the public’s and profession’s input was sought. The Commission’s report identifies a number of unmet legal needs and how technology has changed the way in which legal services can be accessed and delivered. It also identifies how public trust and confidence in obtaining justice and in accessing legal services is compromised by bias, discrimination, complexity and lack of resources. The report makes 12 recommendations aimed at improving legal service provision in these areas.
Pathways to justice
See Housing
Prisoners
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Sexual Assault
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Tribunals
Data insights in civil justice: NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal Overview (NCAT Part 1), S Forell & C Mirrlees-Black, Law and Justice Foundation of NSW, Sydney, 2016 (NSW)
RESEARCH: In its new Data insights in civil justice series, the Law and Justice Foundation of NSW is investigating the quality and utility of NSW civil court and tribunal data to inform policy and practice. Five reports cover the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT). The first report is an overview of NCAT’s four divisions and Appeal Panel. The other four reports concern each of the Consumer and Commercial Division; the Administrative and Equal Opportunity Division and the Occupational Division (which share a data system); the Guardianship Division, and the Appeal Panel. In each report, the authors explore data quality while asking: who is taking action against whom? about what types of matters? what are these matters worth? are parties actively involved and are they represented? how do matters progress to finalisation? how long do matters take, and how are matters finalised?
Data insights in civil justice: NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal Consumer and Commercial Division (NCAT Part 2), S Forell & C Coumarelos, Law and Justice Foundation of NSW, Sydney, 2016 (NSW)
RESEARCH: This report is part 2 of the Data insights in civil justice series produced by the Law and Justice Foundation of NSW to support evidence-based decision-making. This report addresses the quality and utility of data relating to NCAT’s Consumer and Commercial Division (CCD).
Data insights in civil justice: NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal Administrative and Equal Opportunity Division & Occupational Division (NCAT Part 3), C Mirrlees-Black, Law and Justice Foundation of NSW, Sydney, 2016 (NSW)
RESEARCH: This report is part 3 of the Data insights in civil justice series produced by the Law and Justice Foundation of NSW to support evidence-based decision-making. This report addresses the quality and utility of data relating to NCAT’s Administrative and Equal Opportunity Division (AEOD) and Occupational Division (OD).
Data insights in civil justice: NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal Guardianship Division (NCAT Part 4), M Karras & SA Williams, Law and Justice Foundation of NSW, Sydney, 2016 (NSW)
RESEARCH: This report is part 4 of the Data insights in civil justice series produced by the Law and Justice Foundation of NSW to support evidence-based decision-making. This report addresses the quality and utility of data relating to NCAT’s Guardianship Division.
Data insights in civil justice: NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal Appeal Panel (NCAT Part 5), A Williams & C Mirrlees-Black, Law and Justice Foundation of NSW, Sydney, 2016 (NSW)
RESEARCH: This report is part 5 of the Data insights in civil justice series produced by the Law and Justice Foundation of NSW to support evidence-based decision-making. This report addresses the quality and utility of data relating to NCAT’s Appeal Panel.
Women
See Indigenous Australians
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About this newsletter
JARA is a free email alert service covering recent research in the area of access to justice and legal need. JARA entries are publications identified by Foundation staff rather than the product of a systematic search or review. Foundation staff have produced the summaries based on the original publications. The summaries do not necessarily reflect the views of the authors or the Law and Justice Foundation. Your feedback is important to us. If you have any comments or suggestions please email us at lf@lawfoundation.net.au |
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