The 1980s Courtroom

Featherstone, Lisa

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-73310-0_10

Lisa Featherstone⁴

Part of the book series: World Histories of Crime, Culture and Violence ((WHCCV))

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Abstract

This chapter shows that the vast legal changes of this period—driven by feminists and the state—were far slower to impact on the everyday workings of the court. Despite the significant legal reform, and the substantial social change that drove it, sexual offences remained difficult to prosecute, young women continued to be victimised on the stand, and issues of consent and bodily autonomy remained clouded. In the midst of a revolution of attitudes towards sexual violence, hopes for change within the Australian court system were never quite fulfilled.

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Notes

1.
State Records NSW: Court Reporting Branch; NRS 2713, Criminal Transcripts, Supreme Court, R v Knowles, 1985 (hereafter ‘Criminal Transcripts’).
2.
Criminal Transcripts, Supreme Court, R v Knowles, 1985.
3.
Lisa Featherstone and Andy Kaladelfos, Sex Crimes in the Fifties (Carlton: Melbourne University Publishing, 2016), pp. 51–3, 65–70.
4.
Criminal Transcripts, Supreme Court, R v Page and Page, 1980.
5.
Criminal Transcripts, Supreme Court, R v Page and Page, 1980.
6.
Criminal Transcripts, Supreme Court, R v Page and Page, 1980.
7.
For example, Criminal Transcripts, Supreme Court, R v Stanley, 1985.
8.
Nina Westera, Sarah Zydervelt, Andy Kaladelfos and Rachel Zajac, ‘Sexual assault complainants on the stand: a historical comparison of courtroom questioning’, Psychology, Crime and Law 23 (2017): 15-31; Rachel Zajac, Nina Westera, Andy Kaladelfos, ‘The “Good Old Days” of Courtroom Questioning: Changes in the Format of Child Cross-Examination Questions Over 60 Years’, Child Maltreatment 23 (2018): 186–195.
9.
Criminal Transcripts, Supreme Court, R v Stanley, 1985.
10.
As we have seen in previous chapters, in NSW in 1980, to be found guilty of rape, it had to be proved that a person had done three things. First, the offender must have had sexual intercourse with the complainant. Second, the offender must have had sexual intercourse without the victim’s consent. Thirdly, the offender must have had sexual intercourse with the intent to commit the crime, with a guilty state of mind.
11.
Criminal Transcripts, Supreme Court, R v Kenneth, Goss and Worrell, 1980.
12.
Criminal Transcripts, Supreme Court, R v Kenneth, Goss and Worrell, 1980.
13.
Criminal Transcripts, Supreme Court, R v Allingham, 1980.
14.
Criminal Transcripts, Supreme Court, R v Allingham, 1980.
15.
Criminal Transcripts, Supreme Court, R v Abraham and Gleeson, 1980.
16.
Featherstone and Kaladelfos, Sex Crimes in the Fifties, p 43.
17.
Criminal Transcripts, Supreme Court, R v Abraham and Gleeson, 1980.
18.
Transcripts from Featherstone and Kaladelfos, Sex Crimes in the Fifties.
19.
Criminal Transcripts, Supreme Court, R v Renning, 1980.
20.
Criminal Transcripts, Supreme Court, R v Abbott and Dunstan, 1985.
21.
Criminal Transcripts, Supreme Court, R v Abbott and Dunstan, 1985.
22.
Criminal Transcripts, Supreme Court, R v Abbott and Dunstan, 1985.
23.
Criminal Transcripts, Supreme Court, R v Abbott and Dunstan, 1985.
24.
Criminal Transcripts, Supreme Court, R v Stanley, 1985.
25.
Criminal Transcripts, Supreme Court, R v Stanley, 1985.
26.
Criminal Transcripts, Supreme Court, R v Stanley, 1985.
27.
Criminal Transcripts, Supreme Court, R v Cason (Application of Compensation against Geoffrey Cason), 1985.
28.
Criminal Transcripts, Supreme Court, R v Cason (Application of Compensation against Geoffrey Cason), 1985.
29.
Criminal Transcripts, Supreme Court, R v Cason (Application of Compensation against Geoffrey Cason), 1985.
30.
Criminal Transcripts, Supreme Court, R v Cason (Application of Compensation against Geoffrey Cason), 1985.
31.
Duncan Chappell, ‘Compensating Australian Victims of Crime’, Australian Law Journal 41 (1967): 3–11.
32.
Criminal Transcripts, Supreme Court, R v Gibson, 1980.
33.
Criminal Transcripts, Supreme Court, R v Gibson, 1980.
34.
Criminal Transcripts, Supreme Court, R v Gibson, 1980.
35.
Criminal Transcripts, Supreme Court, R v Kite, 1980.
36.
Criminal Transcripts, Supreme Court, R v Kenneth, Goss and Worrell, 1980.
37.
Criminal Transcripts, Supreme Court, R v Kelly, 1980.
38.
Criminal Transcripts, Supreme Court, R v Kelly, 1980.
39.
Criminal Transcripts, Supreme Court, R v Green, 1980.
40.
Criminal Transcripts, Supreme Court, R v Green, 1980.
41.
Criminal Transcripts, Supreme Court, R v Georges, 1980.
42.
Criminal Transcripts, Supreme Court, R v Georges, 1980.
43.
Criminal Transcripts, Supreme Court, R v Georges, 1980.

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University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
Lisa Featherstone

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Correspondence to Lisa Featherstone .

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Featherstone, L. (2021). The 1980s Courtroom. In: Sexual Violence in Australia, 1970s–1980s. World Histories of Crime, Culture and Violence. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-73310-0_10

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-73310-0_10
Published: 29 July 2021
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-73309-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-73310-0
eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)

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