Offenders Rights And Freedoms

There are two predominant perspectives when talking about the rights and freedoms of the individual – the offender and the community – resulting in two different views in how exactly justice is achieved. There are many rights and freedoms that are entitled to both members, however, in a community specifically, the offenders rights and freedoms can be questioned dramatically as conflict of community interest. Societal elements like the media has a huge influence on community opinion and this is one of the main reasons of tension. “When the media report on high-profile court cases over issues like domestic violence, the public is often unsatisfied with the sentences handed down.” stated ABC News on how ‘Media distorts our perceptions of sentencing’.

Using protective custody as an example of an individual’s (being the offender’s) rights and freedoms, it provides to offenders who are vulnerable to attack from

Correctional Authorities have a duty of care and safety for offenders in their custody, which includes protecting offenders from the risk of physical violence from other offenders. This legal right of the offender is not always enforced in the post-sentencing sense as seen in the case of R v Hughes (2015), the case of child-sex offender and former star of TV series ‘Hey Dad!’ who was informed to be highly mistreated in protective custody which directly goes against the sentence he was placed under in the Crimes (Administration of Sentences) Act 1999 No 93 which is effective in “protecting inmates form personal harm”. The number of charges for these types of offences had reached from 354 to 456 charges and increased 28.8% in 5 years. Later the R v Hughes case was appealed because of his mistreatment and believed he did not receive a fair trial due to the “poisonous vilification” by people on social media. The appeal