no one knows what percentage of those behind bars are truly guilty of the crimes they have been sentenced for, so it's important to prioritise DNA testing to keep the right people in and get the innocent out - if we care anything about justice. One day it could happen to you, or a loved one, and then you'd know how it feels to be a victim of the system instead of a beneficiary.

Does anyone remember Cornelia Rau?

Yes, SHRODE, I remember Cornelia Rau.

She was a German citizen who refused to reveal her true identity to Australian authorities and in consequence was detained.

She was never convicted of anything related to this event, let alone wrongly convicted. All she had to have done was to have revealed her true identity and she would not have been detained.

Her case is irrelevant to the issue of wrongful convictions.

yes, L.B. Loveday, you're quite right, Ms Rau's case is irrelevant in this instance, I stand corrected, thank you.

Our Justice system is broken, there is no getting around that. The problem is that it was built broken to begin with. Wrongful convictions occur with suprising regularity, but it is not only convictions. Family law is a mess, civil law is insane and laws governing the running of the government move slower than glaciers.

Can we fix some if not all of the breaks, yes, will it take a long time - definately! I don't mind saying that the guys from the Inocence Project are some of my personal heroes, we need much more like them.

As one who's been through the system, interesting read.
DNA wasn't around when I bit the dust, and had it been, probably wouldn't have helped because I contributed greatly to my precdicament.
What still angers though is the terrific lengths the Police were prepared to go to - despite the strength of their case - to ensure a conviction.
No-one, unless you've been there, could understand the feelings of consuming helplessness and bitterness when subjected to verballing, i.e., the practice by Poilice of outright evidential lying.
What horrified me at the time was that everyone, from the judge down, knew it was happening and no-one would, or could, do anything about it.
Whilst inside, heard some dreadful tales of injustice.
In all probability, some of them had to be true.

An amazing program. I am sure it will help a lot of innocent people. And fantastic of all those to give their time. Sometimes the human race CAN actually be compassionate.

Prison...the ultimate state weapon...You too could inhabit a cell...

FROM WHENCE AND TO WHERE

In the land of nowhere
Jingle the keys of crime
Where overlord is jackboot
And enemy time
Future called empty
Suppression the King
Supine the body
Medication bell ring

Correction a mantra
A transient verb
Suppression the object
No argument heard
Crashing steel door
The song 24
Prisoner in shackles
down on the floor

Mother of Son
Not hers was the crime
Wife and the children
All do their time
Nine AM Sunday
A gathering crowd
Front of the main gate
All looking proud

Prisoner excited
Expectancies rise
Suddenly remembers
The sorrow in eyes
Visit a joy?
No, a passing event!
Capitalist toy now
Asunder to rent

diver

Sometimes Justice is so blind that the wrong person goes to jail, yet some are rescued.
Lynne Weathered,
My personal experience is that Justice isn't so much as blind but it has a symbiosis with an awful lot of callous parasites. Why not persecute an innocent when several others can gain from it by not having to be accountable for their actions which lead to the eventual condemning of the innocent ?

Lynne Weathered,

Thanks. You aimed at my compassion and got my contempt.

Your kind of discourse is academic and irrelevant.

Like that of fishes living in a glass bowl your horizon is limited.

A fish would quickly be dead if it jumped out of the bowl in the attempt of finding out what goes on within the bowl, looking at it from the outside.

The remedies you suggest are only as helpful as a change of water in the bowl.

Your article leaves three questions unanswered.

Why Civil and Criminal justice?

How comes that Police personnel have destructive weapons in their armory instead of medico-psychological qualifications?

How comes that Police kills more ‘innocent Civilians’ than ‘Criminals’ throughout the world?

DIVER DAN, Thank you.

...I can speak from extensive personal experience with the justice system. There are as many opinions as there are people on the subject, of which the author of this article is but one. In an elaborate way, she highlights the fallibility of justice system in Australia. Certainly, no social system at any level of life is without flaws. But , I am more than happy with personal outcomes through the courts, which at times included supreme court appeals. My arguments were, I believe, treated by the judiciary at all levels with consideration and respect, and sentencing was relevant to the crime.

...It has been my experience and observation, the most obvious problem with the justice system is the dislocation from reality emanating from the halls of the DPP. It is also my observation that in many instances the DPP inhibit good policing by overbearing imposition of authority, and confusing a goal of realistic outcomes with selfserving, career advancing motives. This weakness becomes the entry point for gross injustice outlined in the article. But I remain very confident in our system of justice, with all its faults. Overall, it is fair and contributing to a stable society

confident in our system of justice, with all its faults.
Diver Dan,
Of course our system is great in comparison to some countries. My point is that why is it that we recognise the problems but don't rectify them. I could appreciate when the problem isn't known that it would be difficult to address it. However, we appear to to know the problem but don't take any action. That's what the problem of the problem really is. It is that what destroys the lives of many, many good people & is the cause of much misery. The really sad fact being that it is so utterly unnecessary.

Individual/skeptic

Your in luck..OLO has a contributing author on this subject with much hands on experience. Bernie Matthews; all his articles are in OLO achieves and are very readable and easily available through the list of authors here in OLO. Bernie has been silent since 2007; I believe he was charged again with serious offences about that time, so that fact probably explains his silence. Go read and learn!