ahhhh....a challenge....
evidence is often not admissible, but the system is trying to be fair. The protagonists are charged to deliver to their best efforts for the parties they represent. That is often considered to be unfair to the other party. The courts are charged with enforcing the roles and deciding on the evidence allowed what the outcome should be...
some evidence while factual and truthful can create bias disproportionate to the real value of the information. For example a defendants previous criminal history. The court has to decide what is fair and equitable because proving guilt is the responsibilty of the prosecution and cannot be assumed with the introduction of material that creates prejudice and bias unrelated to the matter before the court.
the system is trying to be fair... I'm more impressed about that than I thought that I could be, but the components of the system often appear not to be fair in order for the system to achieve that.. and that is a fact. The reason that the general public think that the system is not is because that only hear about its failings and they only see the errant practitioners.... its actually not that bad at its purpose. Where the system falls down is in the limited amount of resource and thought about how we should best deal with those who transgress.
Where we continue to fall down is in the ideal of punative deterent, and failing to try and equip our criminals to be better citizens on their evitable return to general society.
Justice is not an outcome its a process.... outcomes can never be equitable from the victims perspective. The desire to punish is not beneficial after the fact.
Every system has failings, but this one is probably not as flawed as most think. The primary issues of concern are sentencing options and access/cost for those at the lower ends of society.
Always room for improvement though...
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