NAAJA
North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency is where I'm doing my internship this summer. I'm working in the Criminal Law Section which represents any defendents who self-identify as being aboriginal. The office is two floors has a Civil Law Section, legal secretaries, and Client Service Officers (CSO), the lawyers are pretty young, very dedicated and the turn over is high, that and along with some other things makes the place quite homely and a bit reminiscent of the BXD. I mostly do legal research, so far only for appeals and the majority of the time I can find all the cases I need in the office library. Sometimes I have to go over to the Supreme Court library which has an extremely helpful staff. I observe court when I get the chance and was pretty shocked to see the lawyers and judges wearing robes and wigs when I went to a Supreme Court trial. But aside from the silly costumes things aren't much different. The black people get arrested and the black people get screwed over, all around the world.
Let me tell ya' about bush court now that I know more about it. Bush court is what NAAJA calls the courts that are held in communities (aka aboriginal land). I went to bush court in Jabiru and Oenpelli. Jabiru is a township located right in the heart of Kakadu National Park. Kakadu is managed by Aboriginal traditional owners and the Australia Government Department of Environment and Heritage. It's pretty small but packed with tourist at a couple of major sites within the park. At the court house (a small building behind the Police station used as a day care and for other purposes when there's no court) the NAAJA lawyers, prosecutor and judge come from Darwin once a month to hold court. Any new arrests that the police made within the month (where the defendent was given bail by the P.O.) is heard, and cases that were not settled in the previous month are also heard during these monthly court session/reunions. If for some reason a defendent is not given bail by the P.O. then that defendent is transferred to Darwin and his/her case is heard there. But I guess some would say 'they're' nice enough not to make everyone go to Darwin...
Oenpelli is just north of Jabiru in Arnhem Land. We were able to drive acros the Alligator River from Jabiru to get there because it's the dry season, otherwise you have to fly. Oenpelli is a lot smaller than Jabiru with only about 800 Aboriginals. There is no court house so 'court' was held inside in a small room, imagine a classroom of any sort with desks and chairs set up to mock a court room for students. In the back there was a kitchen where the lawyers could put their belongings and interview clients if needed. But the other most used option that day was the backyard which served as the waiting area for everyone and where the lawyers interviewed their clients. Everything in the 'court' was brought in by the judge's clerks. The clerks spent about an hour that morning setting up mics and tape records to ensure that everything was on the record. Yet I found it ironic that "We" (NAAJA, the prosecutor and judge) all need special permits to enter Arnhem Land, and go in there and imposed a foreign system of justice.
There's definitely more to say about bush court but I suppose my blog can't be all about that. Besides I don't know who could be reading this. So on a lighter note...
Because I was in Kakadu I did get to a couple of the major sites. I got to see some Aboriginal rock art in Nourlangie Rock and the sunset from Ubirr (which is the Crocodile Dundee location).
North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency is where I'm doing my internship this summer. I'm working in the Criminal Law Section which represents any defendents who self-identify as being aboriginal. The office is two floors has a Civil Law Section, legal secretaries, and Client Service Officers (CSO), the lawyers are pretty young, very dedicated and the turn over is high, that and along with some other things makes the place quite homely and a bit reminiscent of the BXD. I mostly do legal research, so far only for appeals and the majority of the time I can find all the cases I need in the office library. Sometimes I have to go over to the Supreme Court library which has an extremely helpful staff. I observe court when I get the chance and was pretty shocked to see the lawyers and judges wearing robes and wigs when I went to a Supreme Court trial. But aside from the silly costumes things aren't much different. The black people get arrested and the black people get screwed over, all around the world.
Let me tell ya' about bush court now that I know more about it. Bush court is what NAAJA calls the courts that are held in communities (aka aboriginal land). I went to bush court in Jabiru and Oenpelli. Jabiru is a township located right in the heart of Kakadu National Park. Kakadu is managed by Aboriginal traditional owners and the Australia Government Department of Environment and Heritage. It's pretty small but packed with tourist at a couple of major sites within the park. At the court house (a small building behind the Police station used as a day care and for other purposes when there's no court) the NAAJA lawyers, prosecutor and judge come from Darwin once a month to hold court. Any new arrests that the police made within the month (where the defendent was given bail by the P.O.) is heard, and cases that were not settled in the previous month are also heard during these monthly court session/reunions. If for some reason a defendent is not given bail by the P.O. then that defendent is transferred to Darwin and his/her case is heard there. But I guess some would say 'they're' nice enough not to make everyone go to Darwin...
Oenpelli is just north of Jabiru in Arnhem Land. We were able to drive acros the Alligator River from Jabiru to get there because it's the dry season, otherwise you have to fly. Oenpelli is a lot smaller than Jabiru with only about 800 Aboriginals. There is no court house so 'court' was held inside in a small room, imagine a classroom of any sort with desks and chairs set up to mock a court room for students. In the back there was a kitchen where the lawyers could put their belongings and interview clients if needed. But the other most used option that day was the backyard which served as the waiting area for everyone and where the lawyers interviewed their clients. Everything in the 'court' was brought in by the judge's clerks. The clerks spent about an hour that morning setting up mics and tape records to ensure that everything was on the record. Yet I found it ironic that "We" (NAAJA, the prosecutor and judge) all need special permits to enter Arnhem Land, and go in there and imposed a foreign system of justice.
There's definitely more to say about bush court but I suppose my blog can't be all about that. Besides I don't know who could be reading this. So on a lighter note...
Because I was in Kakadu I did get to a couple of the major sites. I got to see some Aboriginal rock art in Nourlangie Rock and the sunset from Ubirr (which is the Crocodile Dundee location).
posted by Muneca916 at 10:48 PM
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