Description:
Courts are complex institutions which must constantly adjust to ensure that they are fulfilling their responsibilities to defendants, victims, witnesses, society and others who enter court spaces either virtually or physically. Courts must also manage their relationships with other agencies (whether justice or community) on whom they rely. Courts face an array of challenges in contemporary Australia, including the COVID-19 pandemic which has necessitated courts to pivot from inherently complex systems which are primarily public facing to virtual spaces which must continue to maintain the rule of law and to be open, transparent and subject to scrutiny. This chapter considers other challenges, too, which various courts and those who work in, with or appear before are facing. It assesses a suite of potential micro and macro reforms, advocating for ongoing systemic and structural change.
Description:
Victims of crime are key to holding perpetrators to account. Despite being instigators of reports, victim/survivors of sexual assault have long felt alienated from the court process and criminal justice system more broadly. This chapter draws on contemporary literature to consider the contested terrain of “participatory rights” for victim/survivors. Highlighted are a range of reforms implemented since 1994 which elevate the voices and acknowledge the experiences of victim/survivors. Despite the reforms, victim/survivors continue to feel alienated and, in particular, the voices of victim/survivors with cognitive impairment and complex communication needs are sometimes ignored at the point of first report. Considered here are the barriers to effective reform implementation and proposed reforms for continuous advocacy and legal representation. This chapter supports calls for legal representation to continue through to the conclusion of trial proceedings.