Justice Out of Reach points for journalists

In the research we took 30 legal words that are used in court and by the police every day.

English legal terms like ‘bail’, ‘consent’, ‘remand’, ‘charge’, ‘alleged’ and ‘accused’

And went out in to the communities and sat down with different groups of Yolngu people to see if they understood these terms and if they said they did we then asked then what meaning they applied to those legal terms.

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97% of Yolngu community members born after 1965 had no understanding or an incorrect understanding of the words

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Community leader s group which included Council chairpersons, Yolngu who sat on the NLC and ATSIC committees, school teachers and ACPOs. Yolngu who regularly interact with Balanda and the English speaking Balanda world.

They got a score of 90%; that is they either did not understand the terms or got the meaning of 90% of the terms wrong. And they the Yolngu people everyone expects to understand these English legal terms

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Language professionals got 68 % incorrect or had no idea of the meaning of the terms. Only 17% of the meaning correct and 15% partially correct.

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Interestingly though community members born before 1965, had trouble signing their own name and did not speak English well, scored well in being able to explain the meaning of the English legal concepts when they heard them mentioned in English.

They scored better then the community leaders with about the same number of correct responses and more partially correct responses. But they got more incorrect as well. This showed well developed cognitive ability because of their strong Yolngu language understanding.

A massive communication gulf exists between Aboriginal people who do not speak English as a first language, and the Northern Territory Justice System, which assumes that Aboriginal people understand what is happening when they are involved in the court process, according to a new report released this week.

The report, “An Absence of Mutual Respect”, found that most Yol ŋu Aboriginal people from north-east Arnhem Land have great difficulty with many of the legal terms used inside a courtroom.

These are terms such as Bail, Consent, Remand, Charge, Alleged and Accused.

This critical communication gulf stems from acute language and cultural barriers between people working within the NT Justice System and Yolŋu people. Yol ŋu people regularly bear the brunt of this problem.

Unfortunately the problem is still largely unidentified or unacknowledged. This lack of comprehension leads to many outcomes which are unjust and can also be a factor in some people getting into further trouble.

According to the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, a person is entitled to “be informed promptly and in detail in a language which he understands of the nature and of the cause of the charge against him”1. Australia has signed this Covenant, yet, regularly this most basic standard is not met for Yolngu in NT courts.

This document is based on research that was funded by the Commonwealth Department of the Attorney General through the National Community Crime Prevention Program.

1. NT Legal Aid Commissions director, Sue Cox, quoted in the Darwin Sun Newspaper-14 December 2005

"The NT imprisonment rate is higher than in South Africa, Cuba and Russia and the only country with a higher imprisonment rate is the USA.

2. From "Rom Ga Dharra-'There is Law'" article in the National Community Crime Prevention Program newsletter May 2007.

"According to recent statistics, imprisonment (rates) for Indigenous adults is as much as 14 times higher than for non-Indigenous people (in the NT)"

*Australian Bureau of Statisitics, Prisoners in Australia, 2006, Canberra, 14 Dec, 2006.

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1 ‘International covenant on Civil and Political Rights’, new York, 16 December 1966. Reprinted 1980 No. 23 in ‘Australian Treaty Series’ by Australian Government Publishing Service Canberra, www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/dfat/treaties/1980/23.html

 

Download the "Absence of Mutual Respect" Report Here (1.3MB PDF)