Evidence course work Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Evidence course work - Essay Example Legal principles aim at promoting the rights of children throughout the administration of justice. This means that the legal system needs to uphold the fact that children, including individuals aged 17 years, are people in their own right and thus possess obligations and rights. These rights and obligations must be taken into consideration and respected by judicial and administrative authorities. 17 year olds enjoy special rights at police stations. The purpose of this paper is to examine the array of legal rights endowed on 17 year olds while in police custody for interviewing. The paper will further make pertinent recommendations to enhance the level of protection offered to juveniles in the initial stages of the juvenile justice process. Background International, regional and national legal principles hold that children possess special interests, needs and rights, which must be appreciated in all stages of the criminal justice system. This means that the administration of justice, both criminal and otherwise should always be guided by principal principles of non-discrimination, which are aimed at upholding the best interests of the juvenile. The European Convention on Human Rights is one of the most relevant regional legal principles that countries in Europe seek to incorporate into their domestic legal systems in order to provide guidance on the treatment of juveniles within the justice system3. The Convention has influenced the creation and implementation of legal provisions such as the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) and the Human Rights Act 1998 with the view to enhance the protection of juveniles’ rights in all spheres of life. Notably, recent court cases have revealed that PACE is inadequate in its protection of juveniles since it promotes the treatment of 17 year olds as adults during interviews at the police station. In R. (on the application of HC) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2013] EWHC 982 (Admin) (QBD (Admin)) , the court ruled that the failure to revise PACE 1984 Code C in a manner that differentiates between adults and 17 year olds is a direct contravention of the government’s legal duty under the Human Rights Act 19984. PACE 1984 Code C allows police officers to treat 17 year olds as adults5. For instance, police officers are allowed to delay juveniles’ phone calls to their guardians on the pretext that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the exercise of the right to a phone call will impair the investigations. PACE Code C considers juveniles as all individuals who seem to be below the age of 17 years in the absence of evidence to the contrary6. Since the ratification of the Children Act in 1908, the criminal justice system has maintained that young offenders must be treated differently from adults in all stages of the justice process. Other legal principles such as remand and sentencing legislation, for instance, Criminal Justice Act 2003, Powers of Criminal Cou rts Sentencing Act 2000 and the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 also differentiate between those below and over the age of 18 years7. Additionally, the Prison Service Instruction 08/2012 describes children as all individuals under 18 years. Under Article 1 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) a child is essentially a person under 18 years, unless the law applicable to the child delineates that majority is attained at a

Comparison between Country Lovers and The Proposal Essay

Comparison between Country Lovers and The Proposal - Essay Example Then we will analyze the similarities and differences between a short story and play. Whether a literary piece is a short story or play, as long as they are categorized in the same theme there will always be similarities, with that being said regardless of similarities when comparing two literary works differences can always be found as well. The short story, Country Lovers by Nadine Gordimer, is story about two children from different ethnicities who formed a relationship that later turned sexual. This story takes place on a South African farm, where ethnicity had a major influence on how people were classified. Being a person with white skin, one automatically had superiority over a person with black skin. The boy, Paulus Eysendyck, was fond of Thebedi, the daughter of the help. For years, Paulus went back and forth to school and every time he was home, he engaged in secret activities with Thebedi. As they grew older, their relationship turned sexual and eventually a child was crea ted. Paulus was unaware of the child until after birth. Thebedi had married Njabulo, even though Njabulo knew that the child was not his. When Paulus returned for the holidays from veterinary school, he was surprised to hear Thebedi had a child and rushed to her home to see the child. The next day he returned and poisoned the child. Paulus was charged with murder and a trial began. Thebedi appeared at the court date with a new child in hand by her husband Njabulo, only to find out that he was a free man. The evidence was circumstantial to the courts and another white man gets away with murder. The objective of this story was to express the issues racial relationships faced in the South Africa from 1949-1994 (Driver, 1994). The Proposal by Anton Chekhov is a play that displayed how one word or sentence can send an ordinary conversation down a path of no return. The play is a one act comic farce set during Chekhov’s Russia, a time when marriage was seen as a way of gaining econ omic wealth for a majority of the people. In this play, the marriage concept is satirized to show the real purpose of marriage, which is for materialistic gain as opposed to true love. Ivan VassilevitchLomov was the neighbor of Stephan StepanovitchChubukov, and his daughter Natalya Stephanovna. Ivan came to Stephan’s home one day to ask for Natalya’s hand in marriage. Stephan was overjoyed and agreed to the marriage. Stephan went and got Natalya so Ivan and her can talk. Before Ivan could ask the question they began to argue about a small area of land and who it belonged to. That went on for a little while, until Ivan left. Once Stephan found out Ivan left, he told Natalya why Ivan came. Natalya begged her father to return Ivan. Once he returned the father brought up marriage, Ivan and Natalya agreed and then they kissed. The content of both stories is similar but different. They both involve a male and female engaged in some sort of relationship. In the Country Lovers , the two grew up together and gradually built a relationship. Whereas in The Proposal, Ivan and Natalya were long time neighbors and Ivan felt he was getting old so he asked a woman who he knew for a long time hand in marriage. Paulus and Thebedi’s relationship was forbidden because of race, but Ivan and Natalya’