NCJ Number
80700
Journal
Australian Police Journal Volume: 35 Issue: 3 Dated: (July 1981) Pages: 149-163
Date Published
1981
Length
15 pages
Annotation
Problems minority groups have with Australian police are examined from the point of view of both a recent migrant and a native police officer. Similar difficulties faced by minority groups with the court system are noted, recommendations to allienate these problems are suggested.
Abstract
After World War II, Australia undertook an immigration program that has yielded a foreign-born population of about 2.5 million (about 27 percent of Australia's population). Almost half of this number are from non-English-speaking countries. Over this period of immigration, the Australian legal system has remained virtually unchanged, even though this has presented adjustment difficulties for both immigrants and the receiving community. The greatest difficulties confronting the migrant when dealing with the law and police are the inability to communicate adequately and their ignorance of the substance and structure of Australian law, which often conflict with the customs and laws of the migrant's native land. In courts of petty sessions, where most cases are brought, the police are always represented by a police prosecutor in an adversarial format. The defendant, however, most often does not have legal representation. This circumstance, coupled with immigrants' poor use of English, places them at a severe disadvantage in pleading their case. Education programs that explain Australian law and legal procedures should be conducted through ethnic groups and the ethnic press. Further, the State and Federal Justices Act and any other relevant statutes covering court procedure should be amended to make interpreters available as a right in all courts of civil, industrial, criminal, and summary jurisdiction. These interpreters should be made available at the request of the migrant and by the court's direction, with costs to be met by the State. Police should also be trained to have a better understanding of and sensitivity of the problems and cultural differences of immigrant groups. A bibliography with six listings is provided.