Ethical Dilemmas And Decisions In Criminal Justice: A Case Study

The Case Study

Discuss about the Ethical Dilemmas and Decisions in Criminal Justice.

The scenes in the documentary “So Help me God” was recorded over a period of six weeks at Campbell Town Local Court, altogether seven scenes were recorded. Campbell Town is a place that is located in South Western Outskirts of Sydney. The selected case study for the purpose of this assignment is of a young man who along with his brother and friends had attempted to break, enter and steal a tattoo shop on 17 August 1992.

The defendant was in the car of his brother to Patrick Street, Campbell town. As per the words of Justin, the defendant waited at the car park without actually causing any harm to the owner of the tattoo shop. The defendant seemed to have a troubled childhood and it seemed that the defendant had some trouble with his brain. He complained of having terrible headache since the time he had met with a very bad accident. The defendant in this case, did not commit the real crime, as the co offenders attacked the tattoo shop and he merely waited there seeing the situation however, not trying to control it. The name of the tattoo shop was Gun Tattoo Shop.

The defendant was on “sickness benefit” because of the accident that took place in the year 1986 and because of the accident, the defendant has been suffering from a very bad headache. The defendant has regular lapses of memory and people have often called him schizophrenic. However, the defendant denies of him being or called a schizophrenic.

The Presiding Officer takes due consideration of the condition of the defendant and warns him that because of his regular lapses of memory he has the likelihood of going to jail. Finally, it was seen in the documentary that the defendant receives “defer sentence” under section 558 of the Crimes Act. This means that the Judge may call upon the defendant in case there is a requisite to question him further. Furthermore, the defendant is imposed with the fine of 300 dollars with the court fee of 45 dollars.

A “suspended” or “defer” sentence is a legal term which the judge’s use for delaying the sentence of a defendant even though they have been found guilty so that the defendant is able to perform the period of probation. If the defendant does not break any other existing rules for the given period, the judge in most of the circumstances dismisses the sentence.

Social and Ethical Considerations

For the purpose of this assignment, the situation of the defendant shall be presented from social and ethical considerations. Social and ethical considerations in a case include issues that are not legal in nature. Understanding whether infringement of law has taken place in a given scenario is done keeping in mind the requisites of the given crime. If the requisites are fulfilled as per the law, the defendant is declared guilty of the crime. However, for the given scenario, the crime was not successfully proven against the defendant. He was not directly involved in the given crime rather he was just watching his co offenders without trying to restrain them from committing it. The Court should consider this point as he was merely watching the situation without being actively involved in the case.

Secondly, the Court should also consider the given medical condition of the defendant. As it has been mentioned earlier that the defendant was suffering from regular mental lapses thus, the Court should analyse the behaviour of the defendant in light of the past situation of the defendant as well.

Section 4 of the Australian Law Reform Commission deals with the ethical considerations that Court should take into consideration at the time of deciding cases. Chapter 4.5 of the given Commission deals with people having cognitive impairment, mental illness or an intellectual disability in deciding certain matters or taking up certain decisions (Tribe & Morrissey, 2015). As per the requirements of this section, if the Court believes or has sufficient reason to believe that the defendant is suffering from any kind of mental disability or mental impairment, in such a situation the Court should conduct appropriate inquiry for researching the given medical condition of the defendant. The capability of the person with any of the above-mentioned disabilities and the ability to participate in the research can differ for many reasons such as the nature of the mental condition, the person’s medication or treatment or discomfort of the defendant for participating in the research (Larcher et al., 2015). 

Thus, in the given case as well, the Court is advised to conduct a proper research for the defendant as he was complaining of having bad headaches and suffering from regular mental lapses since the time, he met with an accident. There are chances that the defendant had committed the crime at the time when he had undergone the mental lapse. Thus, appropriate enquiry and research is needed for this issue.

Australian Law Reform Commission

Moreover, the defendant has also complained of having a troubled childhood. A bad childhood influences children in a very negative manner. In the given case, the defendant’s mother use to drink regularly doing nothing to save him from being beaten up by his father. Such a violent behaviour influences children in a negative manner and they grow up perceiving violence as a major part of their character as well. Thus, in such a situation the defendant should be given proper counselling to cure him from any kind of psychological variances.

A person’s childhood is regarded as a very important factor in his upbringing. Much of what the child learns in his childhood is a reflection of how he behaves in the present. Assumingly, it may be said that the given criminal behaviour of the defendant was a result of his bad and violent childhood. The court should give due consideration to this fact as well.

However, the Court has not convicted the defendant as the Court has announced defer sentence against the client. During the period of probation, the Court can utilize the time to conduct appropriate enquiry for researching the extent to which the defendant can be held liable or not. Taking decisions from an ethical point of view may sound difficult and challenging. It has been noted in many cases that Courts often fail to take decisions from an ethical and social viewpoint. They fail to realize and understand the fact that behind the given behaviour of any person may be something more than law.

Conclusion:

It is good that society is governed with laws and rules however with the growing trend of crime rate in the country, Courts should analyse cases from a different perspective as well. From an ethical and social point of view, the crime rate in a given country can be reduced and people will be free from any kind of mental turmoil. The ultimate aim of the society should be for a free and happy society. Courts should stop addressing criminals with a criminal inclination rather they should address criminals with a more social and ethical bent of mind.

I think safeguarding the basic rights of individuals is crucial in terms of their quality lifestyle. This falls under the ethical considerations, under which professionals, carers and the people-in-charge need to abide by certain rules and regulations to avoid instances, which might hurt the sentiments of the individuals. Aligning this perspective with the case, calling the defender schizophrenic, acts as a violation towards the ethical considerations. I feel this kind of behaviour generates a feeling of exclusion within the defender. This kind of feeling adversely affects the mentality of the victim.

Delving deep into the inquisitive nature of the Presiding Officer, I can conclude that the kind of behaviour exposed by him contradicts the true essence of the term “justice”. Here, my sympathy goes out to the defendant, who is psychologically entrapped since his childhood. I am really grieved to point out that this psychological entrapment is the root cause for the recurring instance of memory loss. The root cause for this recurrence is the troubled childhood, which compels me to highlight a violated future for the defendant. The contrast between the past and the present of the defendant assists me in speculating the societal existence for the people bearing same predicament.

The thought of “going to the jail”, in case of the defendant, creates a bad impression in my mind about the Presiding Officer. I think provision of proper rehabilitation facilities to this kind of people acts as an escape from the psychological entrapment. It gives me immense pleasure to point out that this escape alters the plight of the defendant, which enhances his individuality. Looking at the action of rehabilitation, the prefix “re” resembles the revitalization of persons like the defendant. I think compliance to the norms of the regulatory framework uplifts the status of the persons bearing same kind of predicament as the defendant. Concluding the critical reflection, I consider my as fortunate in terms of bringing their social upliftment into their existence.

References:

Bond, T. (2015). Standards and ethics for counselling in action. Sage.

Larcher, V., Craig, F., Bhogal, K., Wilkinson, D., & Brierley, J. (2015). Making decisions to limit treatment in life-limiting and life-threatening conditions in children: a framework for practice. Archives of disease in childhood, 100(Suppl 2), s1-s23.

Lawrence, S. E. (2014). The Poor in Court: The Legal Services Program and Supreme Court Decision Making. Princeton University Press.

Pollock, J. M. (2014). Ethical dilemmas and decisions in criminal justice. Nelson Education.

Shaw, W. H., & Barry, V. (2015). Moral issues in business. Cengage Learning.

Tribe, R., & Morrissey, J. (Eds.). (2015). Handbook of professional and ethical practice for psychologists, counsellors and psychotherapists. Routledge.