Allegations
of Abuse in Institutions |
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An Australian federal
judge has described our sex trials to a T. The fact is that our Evidence Act
was amended to remove (only from sex trials) the time-honoured requirement to
provide corroboration and the mandatory judicial warning about the dangers of
convicting on the basis of uncorroborated testimony. At our peril, we rely
on the "her word against his" process, and the unreasonable belief
that all allegations of sexual crime must be genuine. But police now estimate
that 60 to 80 per cent of rape allegations are false. About half the rape
trials result in acquittals. Over time, memories
fade, witnesses die, documents get lost or destroyed. It is unfairly
difficult to mount a defence against specious allegations which are decades
old. We seemingly ignore the principle of innocent until proven guilty, but
defendants must never be required to prove their innocence. Belief, opinion and
assumption cannot be allowed to override fact and testable evidence. To
reinstate balance, a firm time limit on such allegations is necessary. The
convenience of "representative charges" must be discarded. Fair trials also demand
corroboration of prosecution evidence and mandatory judicial warnings. |