Freckelton Ian, Keyzer Patrick
Barrister, Professorial Fellow of Law and Psychiatry, University of Melbourne.
Adjunct Professor of Law, La Trobe University.
Psychiatr Psychol Law. 2017 Oct 29;24(5):770-783. doi: 10.1080/13218719.2017.1379105. eCollection 2017.
In (2016) the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities determined that Australia was in violation of a series of its obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The decision was a response to a communication brought by an Indigenous man, Marlon Noble, who had been found unfit to stand trial, had not had the opportunity to plead not guilty, and had been detained in a prison for over a decade. This article reviews the reasoning in the decision, the subsequent response by the Australian government and an inquiry into Western Australia's fitness to stand trial legislation. It argues that reform is urgently required in jurisdictions that fail to accord procedural fairness and suitable assistance to persons whose disabilities may preclude their meaningful participation in the criminal justice system.
2016年，联合国残疾人权利委员会裁定澳大利亚违反了《联合国残疾人权利公约》规定的一系列义务。该决定是对原住民男子马龙·诺布尔提交的一份来文的回应，诺布尔被认定不适合受审，没有机会作无罪抗辩，且已在监狱中被关押了十多年。本文回顾了该决定的推理过程、澳大利亚政府随后的回应以及对西澳大利亚州适格受审立法的调查。文章认为，对于那些未能给予可能因残疾而无法有效参与刑事司法系统的人程序公平和适当协助的司法管辖区，迫切需要进行改革。
