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Ensuring Justice Is Done And Seen To Be Done
To better promote public confidence, research suggests courts need to reassess the test they use for determining whether a judicial officer could be biased
Every person before the courts rightfully expects a fair trial, and a fundamental principle of the Australian court system is that a judge or magistrate must not sit on a case in which they are biased.
- By Dr Inbar Levy, University of Melbourne and Associate Professor Andrew Higgins, University of Oxford
- PURSUIT
But how do we recognise bias and ensure it has no place in the courtroom?
As part of the legal test for bias, the courts have created the concept of a fictional ‘fair-minded observer’ as the “eye” through which to determine whether a…