Criminal Justice: Media Portrayal, Reforms in Victoria, Australia

This assignment delves into the Australian criminal justice system, evaluating the accuracy of its media portrayal and proposing reforms. The student analyzes how the media often misrepresents crime rates, overemphasizes violent offenses, and potentially biases public perception through its depiction of criminals and law enforcement. The assignment identifies the Magistrates’ Court as a key area for reform within the Victorian criminal justice system, highlighting issues such as court backlogs, strain on legal aid resources, and the need for improved processes to ensure effective justice delivery. The student suggests that the system requires comprehensive changes including increased staffing, improved court processes, and better collaboration between courts, police, and legal aid to ensure that the criminal justice system serves the community effectively. The assignment references several academic sources to support its arguments.

Running head: Criminal Justice 1
Criminal Law
Name
Institution

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Initial statements
Question1
The Australian media does not give the general public an accurate portrayal of the
criminal justice system. In light of research did on media portrayal of the criminal equity it
has been reasoned that the media is over-soaked with tales about crimes, culprits and criminal
exploitation. Media fundamentally depend on police criminal equity authorities, as essential
sources and correspondents, uncritically acknowledge criminal equity authorities'
perspectives of wrongdoing to delineate crime. The substance in concern to level and reality
of crime in Australian culture is incredibly misrepresented by the media, regularly
purposefully, when contrasted with the genuine rates and earnestness of crimes (Gans, 2016).
The media over-speaks to violent and sensational wrongdoings like serial killings, murder
and assault, when contrasted with less serious crimes like robbery and burglary. Young
people are delineated as hoodlums by the media in rates that far surpass their genuine
contribution in wrongdoing. Despite the fact that the issue of bigotry is on a decay, the media
over-speaks to ethnic minorities as criminal suspects and the wrongdoings against whites are
given more consideration by the media than violations against non-white individuals. In
different media outlets the police are portrayed as whites while culprits are delineated as non-
white individuals, so the issue of biasness regarding shading is still finished delineated in the
media.
Question 2
In my view the element of Victorian criminal justice system in need of reform is the
magistrates’ Court on how criminal justice is delivered. This is the place most Victorians
encounter the criminal equity framework, it is particularly the general population's court.
Mounting weight over numerous years from changes to the law, bleeding edge policing and
obsolete court forms has made a disorganized and conflicting framework, (Ormerod, Laird,
Smith & Hogan 2015). The legitimate guide attorneys who give exhortation and portrayal to
Victorians over the entirety of Magistrates' Courts in the state are basic to the equity
framework having the capacity to serve the network. Be that as it may, at the present time,
they are extended to limit as are police prosecutors and court staff (Boister,2018). The weight
on the administrations arrangement inside the Magistrates' court being the busiest piece of the
criminal equity framework, the court are presently moving toward an emergency point.
Requests is expanding, weight on staff and administrations is building and without critical

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repair, the court, police prosecutors and Victoria Legal Aid will never again have the capacity
to convey viable equity results to help guard the network. For the framework to convey viable
equity, the need of up to errand framework is required (Simester, Spencer, Stark, Sullivan &
Virgo, 2016). A court that has time and space to watch over casualty and which can
legitimately survey and after that sentence singular guilty parties adjusting discipline and a
pathway to the wrongdoer recovering their life on track is required.
Supportive Replies
Question 1
Media contents are over-saturated with tales about crimes. Media adores crimes since
it has an extensive fan construct and announcing with respect to it guarantees that a group of
people is kept up. On TV crime is to a great degree well known point. As a general public we
tend to run to violations we catch wind of on the news since news outlets give much detail
consideration regarding crime as would be prudent. Over misrepresentation of media content
in connection to criminal equity framework, may result to undesirable dread by general
society towards expert or court procedures which by and large are depicted as a degenerate
framework (Henry,Powell, & Flynn,2015).
Media delineation of violations basically depends on data from the wrongdoings
related authorities. The data given by the police who are viewed as the essential source might
be of repudiating view. The final verdict on a case should be given before any false or
exaggerated information is relayed to the media personnel. Information being based on a
single view of authority may contradict the actual occurrence (Van der Veen,2017). Media
should outline every step followed in a crime and justice system in relation to solving a case
so as to give a clear insight of how the system works.
Considering that distorted representation of crime by the media shape the public
judgement about crime, the media should tread with utmost care when tackling related
matters to crime. Media may at times over-represent violent crimes and leave out the less
serious ones and this might lead to public panic over things that if relayed well would be less
influential to the public. Given that the public mainly relates to crimes through media, it is of
utmost importance that the media content relayed correspond to the actual state in the “real
world” to avoid misinterpretation by the public.
Question 2

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In order to ensure smooth functioning of its system funding alone is not enough since
the system needs to be repaired and then redesigned. The courts, police prosecutors and
Victoria legitimate guide, all need to enhance and work better together as open organizations
with help of the legislature. Keeping an eye on the explanations behind bad behaviour not just
its outcomes is fundamental. We require a court that has adequate vitality and space to sustain
losses and which can genuinely assess and after that sentence particular liable gatherings
altering discipline and a pathway to the transgressor recouping their life on track. The truth of
the censuring technique is undermined when the strain to cross huge court records renders it a
bland and surged process (Lauterwein,2016).
With an expansive number of extra police proceeding line, we need to challenge
reality that the present system won't have the ability to adjust. We need to outline now so we
can make a front-line value structure that professionally reinforces the all-inclusive
community using it, and furthermore the overall public working in it. In order to enable the
current system, it is of high importance that extra labour be employed to cater for the
increasing criminal cases. Improving on the count of enough employees in the policing
department ensures that arising matters are quickly and efficiently resolved.
Without whole of system change, the turning approach to value will continue hurting
the system through re-attacking and reliably growing costs to the resident. Every Victorian
legitimacy better value (Werle, & Jessberger,2014). Victoria Legal Aid dispatched this report
by the Law and Justice Foundation of New South Wales, experts in access to value research
and evaluation. Whole system change will result to a decongested since appropriate expertise
to deal with the arising challenges will be available. This in turns help to resolve all the
pending cases and ensuring that crime and justice department maintains a high pedigree of
justice on its end.

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References
Gans, J. (2016). Modern criminal law of Australia. Cambridge University Press.
Simester, A. P., Spencer, J. R., Stark, F., Sullivan, G. R., & Virgo, G. J. (2016). Simester and
Sullivan's criminal law: theory and doctrine. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Ormerod, D. C., Laird, K., Smith, J. C., & Hogan, B. (2015). Smith and Hogan's criminal
law. Oxford University Press, USA.
Lauterwein, C. C. (2016). The limits of criminal law: A comparative analysis of approaches
to legal theorizing. Routledge.
Werle, G., & Jessberger, F. (2014). Principles of international criminal law. OUP Oxford.
Van der Veen, A. (2017). Criminal law: Examining liability for felony murder through joint
criminal enterprise. LSJ: Law Society of NSW Journal, (38), 88.
Boister, N. (2018). An introduction to transnational criminal law. Oxford University Press.
Henry, N., Powell, A., & Flynn, A. (Eds.). (2015). Rape justice: Beyond the criminal law.
Springer.