Court Observation Report

Dr Deborah M. Southwell
Griffith University
2 April, 2013

Please cite as:

Southwell, D. M. (2013). Court observation report. Unpublished manuscript, Griffith

University, Logan, Queensland, Australia.

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Court Observation Report
Introduction
This report contains a description of the court attended for the purpose of observing matters
before the court. Two of the observed cases are described and critical commentary provided
on the question of the roles and responsibilities of human services professionals in courts, the
importance of ethical professional writing and possible tensions in relationships between the
courts and human services professionals.

The Richlands Magistrate Court

Observations took place in Court 1 of the Richlands Magistrate Court on the morning of
20th March, 2013.

The Magistrates Court is the first level of the State Courts and deals with most criminal and
civil matters less than $150,000 (Queensland Courts, 2013a; 2002). More than 90 percent of
legal matters in Queensland are heard before a Magistrates Court (Butler, 2012). The
Magistrates Court can deal with summary offences and determines whether a person charged
with a criminal offence must face trial, and if so, which court should hear the case.

Roles and responsibilities of the various Court personnel

Matters were presided over by a Magistrate who made decisions about the facts of the cases.

Other court personal in attendance were:

 a clerk recorded proceedings and called for defendants to come to the court;

 two defence solicitors, at least one of whom appeared to be a Duty Lawyer,

represented the defendants;

 the prosecutor, representing the Crown, was a Police Officer;

 two corrective services officers accompanied prisoners and remained seated near the
dock when a prisoner was present.

Defendants, charged with criminal wrongdoing, sat in the public gallery of the court or in the
waiting room.

These aligned with stated roles in a Magistrate Courts (Queensland Courts, 2002).

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Matters before the Court
Two of the observed cases are described below with commentary.

Case 1
Defendant 1, a young Caucasian female, pleaded guilty to a charge of uttering a forged
cheque.

According to the police summary of facts, the police were called to the Bank of Queensland
by the manager. A bank teller had identified the cheque tendered by Defendant 1 as having a
fraudulent signature. On searching the backpack of Defendant 1, the police found another
cheque with the same fraudulent signature. Both cheques were in sequential order. The
defendant admitted to the police at the time that she knew what she had done was an offence
and that she had operated from her own free will. The prosecutor tendered the history of the
defendant.

The defence solicitor then addressed the magistrate respectfully requesting that a probation
order and community service be considered in sentencing and then orally reported on the life
circumstances as presented by the defendant including an unspecified event that led to mental
health issues, visits to psychiatrists and current heavy medication. The defendant recognised
she needed to socialise more and was desperate to get out of her current accommodation
situation. The latter had contributed to the defendant taking up the opportunity to seek to raise
funds through the uttering of the cheques.

The magistrate observed that, based on the report, the defendant had “considerable insight
into her own condition” and that the Defendant 1 was “not normally dishonest, had pleaded
guilty” and that her life circumstances meant “life is very rocky therefore making you a
perfect candidate for support and help”. He made clear the conditions of the supervision
order and ascertained that the defendant understood these and was happy to accept the
conditions before sentencing the defendant to probation and 40 hours community service.

Case 1 Commentary
It is unclear whether the defence lawyer (no 1) had the assistance of a human services
professional. The defence lawyer was well prepared, gave a succinct and comprehensive
account of the defendant’s circumstances and provided the magistrate with a justified option
that allowed the magistrate to match the sentencing to best meet the community’s and the
defendant’s needs.

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The oral report met many of the criteria outlined in Kennedy, Richards and Leiman (2013)
including “content is clear and precise … the style is clear, concise and unambiguous, …
conclusions are based on the data, flow logically from it, and are conceptually defensible” (p.
134).

Case 2
Defendant 2 is a middle aged Vietnamese male. When asked by the Magistrate, he indicates
that he wants the matter finished that day.

The prosecutor states that he has no paperwork for the case and that he will therefore not
oppose the magistrate dropping the case.

The magistrate explains to Defendant 3 that, because the prosecutor has no paperwork, he,
the magistrate, can drop the case. The police, however, could decide to lay the charges again
and start the whole process up again. The magistrate then asked Defendant 3 whether he
would like to have the case dropped or to come back on another day.

Defendant 2 said that he did not understand.

The magistrate said “I didn’t think you would.” He then attempted to simplify his
explanation.

Defendant 2 said he had had to borrow a friend’s car to come to court. He said he was “not
guilty” and attempted to explain why he thought he was not guilty.

The magistrate told Defendant 2 not to tell him anything as it wasn’t the right time.

The magistrate then conferred with the prosecutor and decided to put off the hearing for two
weeks. He told the defendant, who had indicated that he would get a lawyer, that there were a
lot of Vietnamese lawyers in the area.

Case 2 Commentary
Hale (2011) states:

Being able to understand one’s hearing or trial is a human and legal right.
For those who do not speak the language of the legal system that right can
only be exercised through the provision of adequate and competent
interpreting services. (p. xi)

In Queensland Courts, there is no right to the assistance of an interpreter (Supreme Court of

Queensland, 2005). Judges retain the discretion regarding whether an interpreter may be

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used. The High Court, however, could rule that a trial was unfair if an accused person was
unable to follow the proceedings of their trial.

While the Queensland Courts (2013b) state “If you don’t speak or understand English well,
you can ask for an interpreter to help you in court”. This is in English and requires a high
level of English to find on the website. The observer did not observe any signage or
information to this effect at the court.

A five to ten minute telephone interpreter call is likely to have achieved a clear understanding
of his situation for Defendant 3 and he could then make an informed response to the
magistrate’s questions. The onus has been put on the defendant to pay for a lawyer who can
deal with the language as well as the legal issues for him.

Human services professionals need to ensure that people have complete access to services
that assist them in court and work with legal professionals to make sure the marginalised
aren’t silenced (Ife, 2012). In an area like Inala-Richlands where 24.1 per cent of the
population speak Vietnamese and with over one in three Vietnamese speakers in Queensland
either not speaking English at all or not well, human service professionals could work with
the court system to ensure that both the legal profession and the defendants are aware of ways
to quickly and easily access interpreter services (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2011;
Supreme Court of Queensland, 2005)

Conclusion
This report described the court attended and the roles and responsibilities of the court
personal. Two observed cases illustrated the importance of ethical professional report writing
question and the importance of human services professionals working with the legal
profession to ensure that defendants have a clear understanding of what is going on in the
courts.

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References
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2011). 2011 Census QuickStats: Inala-Richlands. Retrieved
from
http://www.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getproduct/census/2011/quickstat/
310011274?opendocument&navpos=220

Butler, B. (2012, 31 October). Magistrates Court of Queensland: Annual Report 2011 – 12.
Retrieved from http://www.courts.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/167934/mc-
ar-2011-2012.pdf

Hale, S. (2011). Interpreter policies, practices and protocols in Australian Courts and
Tribunals: A national survey. Retrieved from
http://www.aija.org.au/online/Pub%20no89.pdf

Ife, J. (2012). Human rights and social work: Towards right based practice (3rd ed.).
Melbourne, Australia: Cambridge University Press.

Kennedy, R., Richards, J., & Leiman, T. (2013). Integrating human service law, ethics and
practice (3rd ed.). Melbourne, Australia: Oxford University Press.

Queensland Courts (2002). Our Courts … an inside look. Brisbane, Australia: Author.

Queensland Courts (2013a). Courts. Retrieved from http://www.courts.qld.gov.au/courts

Queensland Courts (2013b). Going to court. Retrieved from

http://www.qld.gov.au/law/court/going-to-court/going-to-court/

Supreme Court of Queensland (2005). Equal treatment benchbook: Supreme Court of

Queensland. Retrieved from
http://www.courts.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/94054/s-etbb.pdf

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