Dame Elizabeth Butler Sloss Case Analysis

The Australian legal system doesn't deliver justice equally for all Australians. In this essay, the issues of the relationship between laws to ethics, morals and values, access to the legal system and issues of fairness in the law will be discussed. There are several relevant examples that have influenced the viewpoint of this essay. The case of Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, the case of Amy vs Adam (www.lawcouncil.asn.au) and the case of Brendan Dassey.

The Australian legal system does not deliver justice for all Australians. In the issue of the relationship between laws to ethics, morals and values this can be seen clearly. This is supported by the case of Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss. This case consists of a woman by the name of Dame Elizabeth
In the issue of access to the legal system this is displayed. This is supported by the example of Adam vs Amy. In this case there is a divorced couple, the wife doesn't feel comfortable sending her child to her husbands house as she fears through the counsellor that he is abusing the child emotionally and psychologically. Even though Amy is on a disability pension, she was denied legal aid due to the value of her house. Although the case doesn't say the outcome it does say that she wasn't able to obtain pro bono assistance due to the small timeline, therefore it can be assumed that she would have most likely have had to pay for legal assistance. The lack of access to the legal system is a highly important issue as people who have a lower socio-economic standard of living and do not have sufficient amounts of money to be able to support legal help deserve the same legal representation and outcomes as those who have enough money to support that legal help. The Australian legal system does not provide the public with equal and balanced justice as there are people who aren't able to get legal aid when they are truly in need of it. As has been shown in this paragraph, access to the Australian legal system is not
In the issue of the unfairness in the law this can be seen. This is supported by the case of Brendan Dassey being forced into being charged for a crime he did not commit. In this case a 16 year old boy - Brendan Dassey is said to be an accomplice to a murder. The accused murder is Steven Avery, Dassey’s uncle. Dassey has learning disabilities and can only read at a fourth-grade level. Dassey is then interrogated alone, and then possibly forced by the police into confessing to rape and murder. He then abandons his statement but due to his unresolved confession he is sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder that his uncle committed. This case shows how the legal system is not entirely correct and was unfair towards Dassey. It also displays the importance of legal support for people with mental disabilities need in the legal system. Whilst this case was in America in Australia it is still just as relevant. This can be backed up by the idea that if an accused person has cognitive disabilities they can be held indefinitely after they are found to be unfit to stand trial. These people can still held accountable for crimes even though they weren't guilty of committing them. This shows that there is a severe issue of unfairness within the Australian legal