Analysis of Human Rights within Australian Criminal Justice

This essay examines the relationship between human rights and the criminal justice system in Australia. It begins by defining criminal justice and highlighting the importance of human rights, including the right to life and freedom from torture. The essay discusses how Australia safeguards these rights through its legal framework, including the Australian Constitution, common law, and specific statutes. It also touches on the role of institutions like the Australian Human Rights Commission and the High Court. The essay outlines the historical context, noting Australia's involvement in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and its adherence to international treaties. It further explains the structure of the Australian legal system with its state, territory, and federal components. Finally, it addresses how criminal offenders are punished, emphasizing that penalties vary depending on the nature of the offense, thereby ensuring justice is served according to law.

INTRODUCTION TO CRIMINOLOGY AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE
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Introduction to Criminology and Criminal Justice
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Institution
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Criminal justice can be defined as a way of ensuring that justice is served to all by duly
punishing those who have committed crimes irrespective of who they are. Criminal justice
system consists of institutions and agencies that work hand in hand to ensure that unlawful acts
do not go unpunished. Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings notwithstanding
their color, race, sex, background inter alia. Human rights include, right to life, freedom from
slavery and torture among others.
In Australia, human rights have widely been developed under Australian Parliamentary
democracy through laws in more specific frameworks (unlike the stand-alone bill of rights in
most cases. These rights are safeguarded by institutions such as the high court and independent
judiciary who are in charge of implementing common law, laws of Australia and its states and
territories alongside the Australian constitution. Australian Human Rights Commission is an
independent statutory human rights body which oversees and also investigates complaints and
generally promotes rights through reporting, education and discussion. The Australians also have
their rights to voting and freedom from discrimination also protected (Stone, Goldsworthy and
Campbell, 2013). The history of human rights in Australia can be traced back to the fact that
Australia was a founding member of the United Nations and assisted in drafting Universal
Declaration of Human Rights and is signatory to numerous international treaties relating to
human rights.
Australia has nine legal systems consisting of eight state or territory systems and one federal
system, in most cases the administration of courts, legislation and legal profession occurs in
territories and states. Criminal offenders can be punished through imprisonment, fines or
community service depending with the magnitude of the case they are involved in (Stubbs and

Tomsen, 2016). For example cases involving murder are treated differently from cases involving
theft though they are both treated as offences under Australian law.
In conclusion, Australia safeguards the rights of its citizens through specified statutes and
common law and ensures that criminal justice is achieved through serving justice to all.

References
Stone, A., Goldsworthy, J., and Campbell, P. (2013). Protecting Rights Without a Bill of Rights:
Institutional Performance and Reform in Australia. Surrey, England: Ashgate Publishing.
Stubbs, J., and Tomsen, S. (2016). Australian Violence: Crime, Criminal Justice and Beyond.