Scenario
Koen is an unemployed 18 year-old Ngunnawal male with a history of minor juvenile delinquency
and a poor record of school attendance and educational achievement. Having been in foster care, he is
now homeless, although he occasionally manages to find a room for the night in one of the various
hostel shelters in the city. He sometimes finds someone willing to pay cash for an odd job but
generally lives from hand-to-mouth and – if he can afford it – occasionally smokes cannabis.
Having not eaten for two days, and wanting either food or cannabis, Koen sees Mrs Maria Sanchez,
an elderly retired librarian, walking along the street towards some shops. Hoping to find money in her
purse, Koen snatches Mrs Sanchez’s hand-bag and runs quickly down a nearby alley way in which he
trips, falls, drops the hand-bag, gets to his feet again, abandons the hand-bag and continues running
until he reaches a group of male youths with whom he mingles. A shop-keeper has seen what has
happened and runs after Koen, but when the shop-keeper enters the alley all he sees is the hand-bag
on the ground at one end of the alley and at the other end, a group of youths which quickly starts to
disperse when police arrive. Although there are Anglo-Australian, Middle Eastern and Indigenous
youth present in the group, the police arrest only the Indigenous males and the more swarthy-looking
Middle Eastern males. The hand-bag is returned to Mrs Sanchez. Nothing has been stolen from it.
Forensic examination of the hand-bag fails to find anything of evidential value.
An identification parade via a two-way mirror (allowing witnesses to see the suspects but not vice
versa) is arranged to ascertain if Mrs Sanchez and the shop-keeper can recognize the attacker. The
shop-keeper cannot, but Mrs Sanchez recognizes Koen both as her attacker, and as a boy who used to
be brought into the local library by his foster carers for a Saturday-morning reading club for
disadvantaged children learning to read. She has also paid him to cut a front lawn two or three times.
Aware of Koen’s troubled childhood and current disadvantaged circumstances, and despite having
suffered a fright, because she has had her hand-bag returned to her together with all its contents intact
Mrs Sanchez does not want Koen to get into trouble for this. She tells the police that she does not see
her attacker on the parade. There is insufficient evidence for the police to proceed.
Drug-related street robberies have been on the increase for some months in this suburb. With few
arrests and convictions, this is currently a high profile issue in the media because a Parliamentary
election is imminent and various candidates for election are stressing law and order as a major
campaigning issue. The police feel under significant pressure to secure a conviction regardless of Mrs
Sanchez’ declared inability to identify her attacker. Koen has a previous conviction for unlawful use
of a motor vehicle, and in his jacket pocket police found the remains of a small plastic zip-lock 4 cm2
bag that once contained an unidentified white powder, a tiny residue of which is still present. On this
basis, police decide to release the other persons arrested and concentrate their efforts on Koen.
Police interview Koen and ask him if he wants a solicitor present, commenting as they do so that this
will delay matters whilst a solicitor is located and attends the police station. Koen wants legal advice
but declines because he cannot afford a lawyer and he is unaware that legal advice can be provided
free of charge and that he may be eligible for legal aid in any case.
Police tell Koen that he will be charged with street robbery and possession of a controlled drug and
will face 2-5 years in prison on conviction. Having told him this, the police then offer Koen a deal:
police will accept a guilty plea to the lesser serious charge of attempted theft (which will not likely
attract a prison sentence), and will not oppose bail – if Koen agrees to become an informer for them.
Unaware that he has not been identified as the would-be robber, and that the residue inside the split
plastic bag is insufficient in quantity to support the drugs charge that the police have mentioned, Koen
accepts the deal.
and a poor record of school attendance and educational achievement. Having been in foster care, he is
now homeless, although he occasionally manages to find a room for the night in one of the various
hostel shelters in the city. He sometimes finds someone willing to pay cash for an odd job but
generally lives from hand-to-mouth and – if he can afford it – occasionally smokes cannabis.
Having not eaten for two days, and wanting either food or cannabis, Koen sees Mrs Maria Sanchez,
an elderly retired librarian, walking along the street towards some shops. Hoping to find money in her
purse, Koen snatches Mrs Sanchez’s hand-bag and runs quickly down a nearby alley way in which he
trips, falls, drops the hand-bag, gets to his feet again, abandons the hand-bag and continues running
until he reaches a group of male youths with whom he mingles. A shop-keeper has seen what has
happened and runs after Koen, but when the shop-keeper enters the alley all he sees is the hand-bag
on the ground at one end of the alley and at the other end, a group of youths which quickly starts to
disperse when police arrive. Although there are Anglo-Australian, Middle Eastern and Indigenous
youth present in the group, the police arrest only the Indigenous males and the more swarthy-looking
Middle Eastern males. The hand-bag is returned to Mrs Sanchez. Nothing has been stolen from it.
Forensic examination of the hand-bag fails to find anything of evidential value.
An identification parade via a two-way mirror (allowing witnesses to see the suspects but not vice
versa) is arranged to ascertain if Mrs Sanchez and the shop-keeper can recognize the attacker. The
shop-keeper cannot, but Mrs Sanchez recognizes Koen both as her attacker, and as a boy who used to
be brought into the local library by his foster carers for a Saturday-morning reading club for
disadvantaged children learning to read. She has also paid him to cut a front lawn two or three times.
Aware of Koen’s troubled childhood and current disadvantaged circumstances, and despite having
suffered a fright, because she has had her hand-bag returned to her together with all its contents intact
Mrs Sanchez does not want Koen to get into trouble for this. She tells the police that she does not see
her attacker on the parade. There is insufficient evidence for the police to proceed.
Drug-related street robberies have been on the increase for some months in this suburb. With few
arrests and convictions, this is currently a high profile issue in the media because a Parliamentary
election is imminent and various candidates for election are stressing law and order as a major
campaigning issue. The police feel under significant pressure to secure a conviction regardless of Mrs
Sanchez’ declared inability to identify her attacker. Koen has a previous conviction for unlawful use
of a motor vehicle, and in his jacket pocket police found the remains of a small plastic zip-lock 4 cm2
bag that once contained an unidentified white powder, a tiny residue of which is still present. On this
basis, police decide to release the other persons arrested and concentrate their efforts on Koen.
Police interview Koen and ask him if he wants a solicitor present, commenting as they do so that this
will delay matters whilst a solicitor is located and attends the police station. Koen wants legal advice
but declines because he cannot afford a lawyer and he is unaware that legal advice can be provided
free of charge and that he may be eligible for legal aid in any case.
Police tell Koen that he will be charged with street robbery and possession of a controlled drug and
will face 2-5 years in prison on conviction. Having told him this, the police then offer Koen a deal:
police will accept a guilty plea to the lesser serious charge of attempted theft (which will not likely
attract a prison sentence), and will not oppose bail – if Koen agrees to become an informer for them.
Unaware that he has not been identified as the would-be robber, and that the residue inside the split
plastic bag is insufficient in quantity to support the drugs charge that the police have mentioned, Koen
accepts the deal.
ASSESSMENT QUESTION (CASE STUDY ESSAY TITLE)
IDENTIFY AND ANALYSE THE COMPETING
IDENTIFY AND ANALYSE THE COMPETING
ClAIMS FOR ‘JUSTICE ’ THAT MIGHT BE
MADE BY THE VICTIM, OFFENDER, AND COMMUNITY IN
MADE BY THE VICTIM, OFFENDER, AND COMMUNITY IN
THESE CIRCUMSTANCES.
HOW WILL THE INTERESTS OF ‘JUSTICE’ BEST BE SERVED?
HOW WILL THE INTERESTS OF ‘JUSTICE’ BEST BE SERVED?
Academic sources
You will need to research the academic literature in planning for and writing your essay and you are
required to cite a minimum of five appropriate scholarly sources.
required to cite a minimum of five appropriate scholarly sources.
Appropriate scholarly sources include journal articles, academic books, book chapters,
and
government reports. Official publications that are available electronically, such as United Nations
documents, can be used. You should generally avoid student textbooks as these are intended to
introduce readers to key ideas and do not necessarily present original detailed research and analysis.
Newspaper or magazine articles and internet webpages are not appropriate sources for the purpose
of academic analysis and should only be used to illustrate examples of an issue being brought to
public attention. Do not use online and hard copy encyclopaedia
government reports. Official publications that are available electronically, such as United Nations
documents, can be used. You should generally avoid student textbooks as these are intended to
introduce readers to key ideas and do not necessarily present original detailed research and analysis.
Newspaper or magazine articles and internet webpages are not appropriate sources for the purpose
of academic analysis and should only be used to illustrate examples of an issue being brought to
public attention. Do not use online and hard copy encyclopaedia
You must cite your sources using the in-text American Psychological Association referencing and
citation system 7th edition, also known as APA7. Guidance on APA7 formatting can be found here:
https://libguides.acu.edu.au/apa. Do not use footnotes.
citation system 7th edition, also known as APA7. Guidance on APA7 formatting can be found here:
https://libguides.acu.edu.au/apa. Do not use footnotes.