Assess the efectiveness of Criminal Trials in the NSW justice system

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In recent years the Australian criminal justice system has come under fire in relation to its effectiveness in dealing with criminal trials. There have been instances where barristers have used ruthless techniques to intimidate witnesses on the stand to try and either decrease their reliability or scare them into not presenting evidence, also because Australia has no bill of rights there is not one piece of statute law that says the rights of the accused and so they are constantly having their rights encroached upon yet, nothing is being done about it because it’s so hard to find out what these rights are. The need for juries and their effectiveness has come under fire from the Australian public because they often make ill informed decisions or give convictions just to resume their normal lives as fast as possible, this is where the question of compulsory jury service is asked and the legal system is finding it hard to justify their need. The effectiveness of Australian criminal trials is also hampered by the high standard of proof which has to be met by the prosecution if they want any chance of conviction, this standard of proof has seen many guilty men and women walk free because the DPP has no evidence to present strong enough to meet the standard of proof. As yet, the Australian constitution contains no Bill of Rights. This clear absence of the bill of rights means that the average layperson concerned about their rights as an Australian citizen has to go rooting around hundreds of legislation to find out all their rights. This is time consuming and sometimes expensive and this could be stopped simply with the introduction of the Bill of Rights. Some of the basic rights of the accused are the rights to a fair trial, the right to legal representation, the right to represent themselves and the right to silence. Yet even these most basic right are being broken by

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