When Justice Is Anything But - Kathleen Folbigg
New Science, Human Error or a Broken Justice System?
20 years after being convicted of killing her four children, Kathleen Folbigg has been released from a NSW prison. The news was announced today by NSW Attorney-General Michael Daley, who told a packed media conference that he had received the preliminary findings of a recent inquiry headed by retired chief justice Tom Bathurst. Mr Bathurst had concluded he was firmly of the view that there was reasonable doubt about Ms Folbigg's guilt.
Ms Folbigg has always maintained her innocence, she was convicted based almost entirely on circumstantial evidence and new scientific evidence is essentially what has resulted in her release. The impact on Ms Folbigg is immeasurable, not only did she spend 20 years in prison for a crime she did not commit. She suffered the arguably worse torment of being accused, and then found guilty of murdering her own children, just babies at the time.
For the justice system to have inflicted such horror on an individual is to challenge its very claim to be known as a justice system at all. And the findings of Chief Justice Tom Bathurst must result in years of questioning, challenging and change for the system. Not merely a day’s coverage in the press that then all fades away.
For those of us who have spent decades advocating for prisoner’s rights, their claims of innocence, the need for new trials, and the requirement that new evidence (particularly scientific evidence) be reheard, today marks a moment when these calls must be louder than ever. Because the question remains, how many prisoners are in fact innocent?
Ms Folbigg's case has been the subject of conjecture, argument and debate from before she ever faced trial until the day she walked free some 20 years later. Few cases receive such attention and it is a credit to Ms Folbigg, her friends and supporters and her legal team that they have maintained their calls for justice for 20 years. But what about those who don't have such support? Who come from marginalised communities? Who live away from the big cities and don't have a voice?
Civil Liberties Australia estimates that 7% of Australian prisoners are innocent. The current prison population in Australia is over 40,000 people, which would mean there are 2,800 more Kathleen Folbiggs currently locked behind bars for crimes they either didn't commit or for which there is insufficient evidence. This is an outrageously high number, an entire rural town's population rotting their lives away because of a broken justice system.
So why are they there? Five main reasons have been identified by all major studies. Like Kathleen one of those reasons is due to flawed forensic evidence. This is an easy fix, with more scrutiny on science professionals such as those who botched DNA testing in Queensland or oversight of disgraced pathologists like South Australia's Colin Manock. In addition to allowing prompt appeals based on new and more credible scientific evidence; this issue can largely be fixed.
But this is not the primary reason for the innocent being in cages. The other causes are eyewitness misidentification, false confessions, police and prosecutorial misconduct and perjured testimony. In short - lies, forced lies, criminal conduct from those inside the system and more lies, often again from those within the system. To solve these issues there must be greater accountability and punishment for those who corrupt the system that looms large above us all.
Police in particular, with their enormous power over the public, and their ability to take lives without repercussions (see 600 plus Blak deaths in custody without a convicted cop), must finally face the consequences of the law they claim to enforce. Protect and serve has for too long become perjure and strike lethally (even tasering 95-year-old ladies to death).
Ms Folbigg’s suffering can never be undone, there is no amount of money to ease the pain inflicted upon her by the state. But what can be done is an urgent review of every single case where a person has a reasonable claim of innocence and more importantly, the full weight of the state must wield its might against those corrupt cops and officials. On any one day in Australia, 2,800 lives depend on it and tomorrow more innocent lives will be lost behind the bars.