For more than 40 years, Professor Peter Norden has worked in a variety of roles within the Australian criminal justice system. These include his years as Catholic Chaplain to the Victorian Prison system including Pentridge Prison (1985-1992) and as Convenor of the Victorian Criminal Justice Coalition (1992-2008). 'Seeking Justice' reflects on this rich and diverse journey, providing reflections on decades of front-line work and advocacy. As one of the six reviewers of the book, Melbourne Barrister, Julian McMahon AC QC, renowned death row defence Counsel for Australians awaiting execution in our Asian region notes: 'Peter Norden has drawn a remarkable portrait of an era: of jails, executions, police killings, prisoners lost in their cells, brutality, survival and hope'.'Seeking Justice' is an extensive volume of 450 pages, and covers such historic personalities as Bill O'Meally, the last man flogged by the State in Australia, and Ronald Ryan, the last man hanged by the State in Australia. Norden describes the crisis surrounding the infamous death of the Jika Jika Five in a protest fire within Pentridge in 1987, and details hitherto unreported from the Walsh Street murder trial following the execution killing of the two young Police Officers in Walsh Street, South Yarra in 1988. But Seeking Justice does much more: it points to an alternative model of restorative justice that could be implemented to secure a more secure and safer society in Australia in coming decades. Such a model would address the current international scandal of the mass incarceration of Indigenous Australians. It would set a new direction for the Australian criminal justice system founded on evidence, and not on a misguided model based on our past as a penal settlement. Peter Norden is well placed to call for our political leaders to explore new paths in pursuit of true justice and greater community safety in Australia today.

“The legal system is fair in the way that a soccer match between Manchester City and the Betoota Bandits reserve grade is fair. They're playing the same game, with the same rules applied consistently. But one team has hundreds of millions in resources to invest in their side, and the other struggles to find a beat-up minibus to get to the game, the system doesn't care.” The legal system exists today, as it statistically touches almost zero percentage of the general population, if the legal system interacts with people, then they care. For those that are touched by the legal system is seen by many people as inaccessible, complex, unpredictable, slow and costly, where truth and justice is not even an objective. The data shows that the greater the number of justiciable interactions, the less likely respondents are to perceive the laws and justice system as fair. About 72 per cent of people who had zero interactions expressed a favourable view about the fairness of the laws and the justice system. This percentage declines steadily as the number of interactions increases. Only 40 per cent of respondents with seven or more interactions with the judicial system feel that the laws and the justice system are essentially fair. These statistics[1] represent a damning indictment of the justice system. If millions of people are intimidated, alienated and confused by the prospect of seeking justice in twenty-first century then we should consider our legal system to have failed in its fundamental duty to provide justice to all. [1] Unjust Kingdom: UK perceptions of the justice and legal system, -- Hodge Jones & Allen Law firm, Dec 2015.

This book provides an introduction to the main concepts and issues in juvenile justice in Australia, and provides a consolidated overview of the dynamics of youth crime and the institutions of social control. This book will be of particular interest to criminology and law students.

Reforms have been underway over the last three decades to address the disadvantages that victim/survivors of sexual assault face within the criminal justice system in Australia. Such reforms include expansion of advocate services, specialisation of police, alternative provisions for giving evidence at trial, and changes to jury instructions. This report was commissioned to examine the implementation of these reforms and their impact on the victim/survivor experience. Drawing on interviews with 81 criminal justice professionals including counsellors, lawyers and judges, it looks at victim/survivor-focused approaches, promising and innovative practices, the take up of reforms, the factors that enable or inhibit victim-focused reforms being embedded in court practices, and the potential for future reform.

This edited collection brings together scholars and practitioners in every chapter to provide a comprehensive and unique exploration of courts in Australia. The primary focus is to identify controversies, challenges and change, in the form of potential reforms within the courts across Australian jurisdictions. Bringing forward original research and scholarship on a wide array of courts in Australia, combined with insightful practitioner perspectives, research will be effectively integrated with practice. This book is the first comprehensive collection of its kind to canvas the diversity of courts in Australia, providing comprehensive critical analysis of contemporary issues, debates and reforms. It considers the array of courts across state, territory and national jurisdictions in Australia, including coroners’ courts, family courts, criminal, civil courts and problem solving courts. It also adopts an intersectional approach, providing insights into the perspectives of various court users such as people with disability, ethnic minorities, Indigenous Australians, and victims of crime. Each chapter provides opportunities for further debate among scholars, practitioners and students regarding potential future directions for reform to improve the efficacy, equity and accessibility of Australian courts.This collection serves as an international ready reference for students, scholars and practitioners alike.

An introductory guide to the nature of law and government in Australia suitable for beginners.