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Legal knights to solve WA's problems
Like knights of the round table, the best and brightest from within Western Australia's courts and justice system have formed a unique clique to solve the state's problems.
The New Lawyer
LIKE knights of the round table, the best and brightest from within Western Australia's courts and justice system have formed a unique clique to solve the state's problems.
The chivalrous problem solvers include Chief Justice Wayne Martin, District Court Chief judge Antoinette Kennedy, Chief Magistrate Steven Heath, Police Commissioner Karl O'Callaghan, acting Director of Public Prosecutions Bruno Fiannaca, Law Society senior vice president Hylton Quail, among others.
Chief Justice Martin said the Strategic Criminal Justice Forum provided an opportunity for coordinated action by the courts and key agencies involved in the administration of criminal justice.
"The most senior individuals in the criminal justice system will meet each month to bring problems and ideas to the table," he said.
"We believe that by sitting down together on a regular basis we can find better ways to deliver justice in this state - in a more timely, efficient and fairer way."
The forum aims to minimise the time and number of court appearances between the laying of charges and the final disposition of charges, and finding ways to promote the early identification and narrowing of issues to be determined by trial.
The Chief Justice said the forum is also looking for ways to promote and enhance the interests of victims of crime and their families through the court process.
"We also believe it is important to look at the impact of the trial process on vulnerable witnesses, and ways we can minimise that impact," he said.
