Justice

Justice

1. Introduction

   • Justice is a concept simply defined as fairness and equality of treatment
   • Should be impartial and objective however the nature of justice is subjective
   • What justice is to one person can be seen as an injustice to another

2. Definition of Law

   • Sir John Salmond - "the body of principles recognised and applied by the state in the administration of justice
   • Procedural Law - methods and processes in place to create law
     • Parliament creates laws by elected MPs and is considered to be just
     • Judges make laws by precedent and is seen to be just on the principle of stare decisis
   • Substantive Law - The statutory or common law rules that define rights and duties
     • Murder - common law
     • LOC - s57 Coroners and Justice Act 2009

3. Criminal Cases Review Commission

   • A person that believes they could be a victim of a miscarriage of justice can have their claim tested
   • Ched Evans - convicted of rape
   • Prioritised for review however given no reason - surprising as justice should be seen to be done

4. The Jury

   • Twelve randomly selected people - reaching a unanimous or majority verdict
     • Wide set of opinions
   • Bushells Case - importance of jury participation and justice can be seen even in the refusal of a jury to convict
   • Jury can vote on conscience - R v Owen - refused to convict D on an attack to his son's killer
     • In the view of the jury this was just

5. Theories of Justice

   • Distributive Justice - fairness in what people receive from material goods to rights and responsibilities
   • SEE OTHER SHEET

6. Miscarriages of Justice

   • Stefan Kiszco
     • Lesley Molseed - stabbed to death and sexually assaulted
       • Stefan confessed to the murder due to police badgering as he was very naive and vulnerable
     • 16 years in prison - scientific evidence came to light proving him innocent which was never showed at trial
   • Sally Clarke
     • Convicted of murdering her two baby sons
       • Found innocent after serving 3 years of a life sentence after evidence came to light of it being a natural death
         • Sally died not long after as she could not cope with the grief

7. Basic Principles of Justice

   • Natural Justice - The law needs to be seen as just and designed to protect the interest of individuals
     • The court must be impartial but also seen to be so
   • Utilitarian view would be less concerned with the idea of natural justice as it focuses on the consequence rather than the procedure such as a fair trial
   • Child Abuse Scandal 1980's
     • Current home secretary set up an enquiry to investigate
       • Lady Butler-Sloss - retired high court judge was appointed to oversee the enquiry but was forced to stand down as her brother had served as AG in the 1980's
       • New Zealand judge Lowell Goddard has now been appointed who appears to satisfy the required impartiality

8. Substantive Justice

   • Creates, defines and regulates rights and duties
   • Principle of Proportionality - sentencing takes into account the crime, aims of sentencing and aggravating and mitigating factors
     • A less serious crime has a less serious punishment and vice versa - assault is 6 months and murder is life
       • Utilitarian - incarcerating dangerous people to protect society as a whole
   • Murder does not always lead to proportionality - murder is treated the same irrespective of motive
     • Corrective justice would argue this is fair - individuals who kill deserve to have their life taken
     • In January 2011, Frances Inglis was found guilty of murder when she injected her brain damaged son with a fatal dose of heroin. In the Court of Appeal, her tariff was reduced from 9 years to five, but Lord Judge said that “the law on murder does not distinguish between murder committed for malevolent reasons and murder motivated by familial love”.
       • It still seems unjust however, that someone killing out of compassion will receive the same sentence as child killer such as Mark Bridger who murdered five year old schoolgirl April Jones in 2012.
       • Utilitarian reasoning would state that her imprisonment was inherently unjust, as it bring no happiness to the majority. Another view (theorist Immanuel Kant) would agree with the Court of Appeal’s decision. The act of murder is wrong, irrespective of the motive

9. Conclusion

   • To conclude, the law seems to want to achieve justice as the law is built to preserve it and deliver it. It tries to give justice to all however a quote from James Matthews sums up the problem “In England, justice is open to all like the Ritz Hotel.’ You can only seem to achieve justice if you have the money for lawyers and appeals which fundamentally undermines the meaning of justice.