Quote:America is a nation of laws and the Rule of Law means that everyone receives justice regardless of status.
Perhaps more accurate to say "---means that everyone is SEEN to receive justice----"
Neither the US nor Australia has a justice system. We each have legal system. Justice occurs, but by happy accident rather than by design.However, our systems remain better than most.
In my opinion two major impediments to a just outcome ,[especially in criminal law] are;
The system of adversarial advocacy: Defence and prosecution have access to the same facts yet argue opposite conclusions. The relatively small number of criminal cases which actually get to court can be more like a high school debate than a serious attempt to discover what actually happened.
Plea bargaining:
Without plea bargaining,the court systems in the US and Australia would come to a screeching halt .Plea bargaining is a severe disadvantage to anyone depending on a overworked an underpaid public defender.
A quick search shows that in the US between 90-95% of all cases involve some form of plea bargaining. Google is arse deep in references about the innate injustice of plea bargaining. The reasons for its existence are expedience and cost.
