Do you agree with this proposition? Justify your position.

Similar to many Western countries, Australia uses the adversary system in both criminal and civil cases. The standard of proof of the adversary system in criminal cases is “proof beyond reasonable doubt”, and with a nation-wide rape conviction rate of one per cent, many important questions are being raised.

One of these issues stems from the rate of report of sexual offences to the police, which currently stands at approximately 15%. There are many reasons for this number being so low, the most worrying being “fear of legal system” or at least a lack of faith in it, by victims. A Rape Crisis Hotline in Victoria receives 15,000 calls per year from distressed women who are victims of sexual assault. Most of them do not report their ordeal to the police for this exact reason; “the victims fear the system, the think it will just chew them up and spit them out with nothing to show for the whole nightmare”. Other reasons cited by rape victims for not reporting attacks include “feelin

However, both Victorian Barrister David O’Doherty and Marcia Neave of the Law Reform Commission have stepped out in defence of the Legal System:

Some topics in this essay:
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