Under British and
Australian laws a jury in a criminal case has no access to information
about the defendant’s past criminal record. This protects
the person who is being accused of the
crime. Some lawyers have suggested that this practice should be changed and
that a jury should be
given all the past facts before they reach their decision
about the case. In what extent do you
agree or disagree?
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| Ielts Essay - Concealing Part Records Of Criminals |
Giving fair trials to the accused has been a practice of law
world over since ages. In countries where the jury system prevails, the jury
members are not informed about the track record of the people facing trials.
This allows law to take its own course and deliver impartial judgments though
some people raise objections to this.
Various law experts vouch for continuation of such a system,
as it helps upholding the tenets of fair trial and delivery of judgments. Concealing
the past records of the people, is supposed to be the right approach to ensure a
fair trial. It is the basic human right as per human rights organizations,
every human should be allowed an opportunity to present their case adequately,
either to prove their innocence, or more facts about the circumstances in which
they committed crime.
Moreover, discrimination against ex-convicts is rampant in
the society. A common notion, ‘Once a criminal always a criminal’, may not hold
true in every case. The jury members are also humans, and some might act
overzealously, thus, it is quite likely that jury might take predetermined decisions.
Concealing past history would help ensure flawless judgments that are not biased;
influenced – by adverse views of jury members; preconceived; and are arrived at
by following proper procedures during investigations of the purpose and the
circumstances of the offence.
However, revealing the facts of past record of the activities
can prove to be substantial in case of the assessing the modus operandi of
hardened criminals. This would greatly help in drawing a clear line between coincidental,
otherwise unintentional first timers and the ones who are used to committing
crimes frequently.
To conclude, I feel that scrapping the law of concealing
past records of criminals would help in assessing crimes correctly.
