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Justice?

Entry 531, on 2007-05-11 at 15:54:28 (Rating 4, News)

The justice system can be a real worry some times. Here in New Zealand the police bring prosecutions against alleged offenders. They also research the facts of the case. We know there have been cases where innocent people have been found guilty because the police have fabricated evidence against someone they believe is guilty for various reasons. I think the vast majority of police are honest and do a good job, but recent events have clearly shown we certainly can't automatically trust them all.

The most famous case here was Arthur Allan Thomas. The police created evidence to convict him because they had convinced themselves he was guilty. Now another high profile case, David Bain, has reached a point where the Privy Council has found there was a miscarriage of justice when he was convicted 13 years ago. He has been in prison ever since then, even though there have been continuous efforts to free him.

The evidence in the Bain case is contradictory, but there has always seemed to be sufficient doubt to make the original conviction suspicious. I don't think the police deliberately try to convict someone they know is innocent, but I think that they might sometimes decide someone is guilty and change the evidence accordingly.

Since this case was appealed we have abolished appeals to Britain's Privy Council and now have a New Zealand Supreme Court. But many people aren't comfortable with this solution because they see the politicisation of the Supreme Court in the US and think that New Zealand courts tend to take the side of the police instead of being truly neutral.

I want to see us moving away from relying on British institutions and move towards becoming a republic, but this is one situation where the traditional system really seems to have some merit.

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