RR Phantom
Location : Wasted Space
Job/hobbies : Cayman Islands Actuary
 |  Subject: OZschwitz: Taxpayers foot bill as up to one in 12 court cases are dropped  Mon May 10, 2010 3:27 am | |
| CHARGES are dropped in as many as one in 12 cases in the state's largest criminal court, with one in 20 not dropped until the week of the trial, costing taxpayers thousands of dollars a year.
Previously unpublished District Court figures show that, in most of the cases, prosecutors drop charges after months of expensive preparation by both sides.
In some cases, victims have endured months of stress anticipating matters going to court while wrongfully accused have spent time behind bars.
More than once a week, the taxpayer picks up the tab across all courts because a judge decides a defendant should not have to pay the legal costs they incurred.
There were also 67 costs orders granted against the Crown across all courts last year and 57 the previous year, adding up to more than $1.1 million.
But they were a small part of the 32,000 matters prosecuted, a spokeswoman for the Director of Public Prosecutions said.
The reasons for charges being dropped at the last minute include underfunding of prosecution and Legal Aid services and overcharging by police, say criminal justice experts.
Stephen Odgers, SC, the chairman of the NSW Bar Association's Criminal Law Committee, said it had been a problem for some time because senior prosecutors and defence lawyers became involved too late in the process. ''I'm not criticising the DPP. They do it for very understandable financial reasons,'' he said.
The president of the Criminal Defence Lawyers Association, Phillip Boulten SC, said the solution was more money for the DPP and the Legal Aid Commission. ''But the early identification of problematic prosecutions would save a large amount of taxpayer dollars, including the costs of incarcerating people needlessly,'' he said.
George Ikners, a barrister of 20 years experience, said in some cases ''an aggressive attitude adopted by police and the prosecution is not reflected in the facts available''.
''Often you could be excused for feeling some charges are laid or continued with on the basis of let's see what happens or turns out.''
The chief executive of the Victims of Crime Assistance League, Robyn Cotterell-Jones, said abandoned prosecutions upset victims of crime who were strung along.
She called for committal hearings to be done away with in favour of a magistrate vetting investigations early on, and a more inquisitorial system without so many barriers to evidence.
DPP figures reveal that some charges were dropped in 529 matters last year across all courts, with all charges dropped in about 30 per cent. In one in three cases where all charges were dropped, it was due to the victim's wishes.
The DPP spokeswoman said each case was different and was assessed on its merits.
''Sometimes witnesses or accused die. They change their story or are found to have given false evidence or are otherwise discovered to be unreliable … Sometimes police are simply not able to provide the evidence needed to support the charges.
NSW Police did not respond to a request for comment.
LNK
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