PrincessParadox
08-07-2008, 05:29 AM
Criminal Law is doing my head in. We had to look at a domestic violence scenario in seminar today. A man has a history of assaulting his partner, who never reports it. They have a small son. He punches her repeatedly in the face and threatens her with a knife after his dinner gets cold, all while the son is in the room.
By the end of the two hours we'd been shown how, instead of throwing the book at him and giving him 25 years as a major indictable (which is what we all initially said we'd do as DPP) we had to drop charges due to lack of evidence. The fact that she'd initially lied and said that she'd smashed her face in walking into a door makes her an "unreliable witness" and the fact that she hadn't reported previous cases of assault (this was long-term abuse) meant that her credibility was somehow lessened this time around. As Defence we could see if we could get a jury consisting of mainly older women, who are more likely to see the matter as something natural between husband and wife and who therefore are less likely to secure a conviction. Hell, by the end of it we couldn't even suggest bringing a case as a summary offence.
And to top it off she had a small child who is now going to grow up thinking this sort of behaviour is the norm. To be honest I had a bit of a cry during break, but no-one saw and I got over it fairly quickly. I'm enjoying the challenge of Law, and a lot of it is incredibly interesting, and I have no intention of quitting. I know we have to learn it, but it's pretty disheartening listening to people talk so coldly about something so personal. Might just be me, but the system seems screwed sometimes when it can't even look after children.
F*ck it all.
By the end of the two hours we'd been shown how, instead of throwing the book at him and giving him 25 years as a major indictable (which is what we all initially said we'd do as DPP) we had to drop charges due to lack of evidence. The fact that she'd initially lied and said that she'd smashed her face in walking into a door makes her an "unreliable witness" and the fact that she hadn't reported previous cases of assault (this was long-term abuse) meant that her credibility was somehow lessened this time around. As Defence we could see if we could get a jury consisting of mainly older women, who are more likely to see the matter as something natural between husband and wife and who therefore are less likely to secure a conviction. Hell, by the end of it we couldn't even suggest bringing a case as a summary offence.
And to top it off she had a small child who is now going to grow up thinking this sort of behaviour is the norm. To be honest I had a bit of a cry during break, but no-one saw and I got over it fairly quickly. I'm enjoying the challenge of Law, and a lot of it is incredibly interesting, and I have no intention of quitting. I know we have to learn it, but it's pretty disheartening listening to people talk so coldly about something so personal. Might just be me, but the system seems screwed sometimes when it can't even look after children.
F*ck it all.