In many legal jurisdictions of the world, including Australia, an offender’s remorse is a mitigating factor at sentencing. And yet how judges evaluate such expressions is unclear.
A mural of Savita Halappanavar, who died from pregnancy complications after being refused an abortion.
EPA
David Goodall had a good life and he wanted a good death, even though he wasn’t terminally ill. An end-of-life expert explains why he should have this right.
Carolyn Flanagan gave evidence at the third round of hearings of the banking royal commission.
Julian Smith/AAP
Even when ASIC has been sufficiently resourced to pursue litigation, the Australian courts have contributed to an environment where contravening behaviour is a rewarding option.
Angry customers want bankers to face jail time, but better banking practices are just as important.
LUIS ASCUI/AAP
It seems ASIC and the Director of Public Prosecutions will have no lack of evidence to pursue civil penalties and criminal cases. The bigger issue is what charges to go with.
Financial firms often program computers to contract with other parties in security trades.
Justin Lane/AAP
Law presumes that commercial contracts are intended to be legally binding, even where computers play a part in the bargain.
Australian governments have too often succumbed to perceived community pressure to limit parole authorities’ independence and powers.
AAP/Samantha Manchee
Government and judicial interventions into the decisions of parole boards display a progressive loss of faith in these independent bodies.
Debbie Baptiste, the mother of Colten Boushie, enters the Court of Queen’s Bench as the jury is in deliberation in the trial of Gerald Stanley, the farmer accused of killing her 22-year-old son, in Battleford, Sask., Friday, February 9, 2018.
(THE CANADIAN PRESS/Liam Richards)
Racial bias likely played a role in the Gerald Stanley case. This article explains how racial dynamics and process failures enabled systemic racism to play a part in Stanley’s acquittal.
A history of how jurors have faced trial themselves for getting it wrong, or slipping up in court.
Gerald Stanley enters the courthouse in Battleford, Sask., in February 2018 during his trial in the death of Colten Boushie, an Indigenous man. The use by Stanley’s defence team of peremptory challenges produced an all-white jury in his trial.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Liam Richards
China’s space station Tiangong-1 is about to crash back to Earth any day now. It’s out of control too so no one really knows where it will land. So what if it hits you or your house?
Healthcare professionals should have their freedom of conscience protected by law.
In a 2016 ABS survey, one in two women reported having experienced sexual harassment, but 90% of them did not contact the police.
Cindy Zhi/The Conversation NY-BD-CC
Critics say that #MeToo has turned the legal principle of innocent until proven guilty on its head, but such comments privilege the rights of perpetrators over justice for victims.