LAWS2057 Welfare Law

The judicial system in every country is entitled to the responsibility to serve contentious justice to its people regardless of their social status and class. One of these ways is to ensure that families are protected against domestic and family violence in different contexts. Establishing a specialized court process for the use in family violence cases is an important step to ensure that the judiciary recognizes and responds appropriately to family violence.

To strengthen the dedicated process of ensuring that justice is served to the victims, the courts have been organized in different ways to be able to accommodate these cases. These levels of specialization vary widely in different jurisdictions that have applied this approach. These include the creation of courts that only handles family violence cases, integrating court processes to ensure that the matters relating to domestic violence are effectively processed, yet others have come up with specialized trained staff for the provision of victim support and encouragement. This way the court succeeded in ensuring that the message of no room for family violence is made clear to the public (Braswell, McCarthy & McCarthy, 2017).

The introduction of dedicated courts and prosecutors which is a system of courts and prosecutors who have specialized in handling criminal and civil cases revolving around family violence has ensured that all the cases are handled by the same judges and prosecutors who through this process gain the necessary experience and expertise to ensure consistency in the justice process (Farrugia, 2020). In some cases, the courts have adopted a Dedicated Processing that is meant to ensure that the family violence cases are handled with utmost good care and confidence while maximizing the protection and safety of the victim while at the same time demanding a high level of accountability for every case. Dedicated processing is usually involving an alteration of the court's internal administrative process to ensure proper handling of family violence matters.

Legal Process to obtain a court Protection order

Every client who has been victimized by an intimate or family person in forms such as sexually, abusively, threatening, stalking, or harassment is entitled to obtain a legal protection order. To obtain this order, the client will have to make a detailed consultation with their advocate to seek relevant counseling through the process. The victim advocate will advise on the right protection order, and help in figuring out the best protection order that would fit the situation of the client.

After that, the client will fill a petition form in court at no cost where he or she will sign an affidavit concerning what the abuser did to the client. An affidavit is signed in front of the judge and if the court finds the victimized in danger, he or she will be given a temporary protection order and the hearing set. When the abuser has been summoned and attends the first hearing of the court, the victim is given an order of protection that can last for a few days or months, years, or permanent order of protection (Atallah, 2017).

The order of protection filed by the victim can be filled in the city, any nearby justice or district court nears the victimized.  The victim may not need an attorney in this process and may choose to protect himself or herself if already granted a protection order while having an understanding of the hearing process.

Relevant Support Services Available in Court

In almost every court, the support scheme adopted for the victims of family violence revolves around the victim's emotional and legal support throughout the process of seeking justice. The court in this case helps in providing robust, professionals, and consistent support service for the client whether it is a young or an adult (MICHAEL, BRASWEL, BELINDA & BERNARD, 2019). The court will work with specialist domestic violence organizations and professionals and advocates. In addition to a staff that works alongside violence-trained caseworkers who are having firsthand experience in supporting the clients.

The court can take a range of support services to ensure that the victimized person feels safe and secure as the case is going on in the court. One of these processes is through the issuance of a protection order among others (Farrugia, 2020). The creation of specialist family violence courts helps in the protection of the victims and promotes their rehabilitations against such emotional effects that may arise due to psychological impacts. The creation of therapeutic jurisdictions helps in the examination and impact of the court process upon victims and looks to see that the victim is allowed to voice and validate the evidence, and respected.

Another very important mechanism for ensuring a victim safety is to ensure that the court develops a very dedicated victim advocate in the courtroom who will engage broadly in protection and restraining order to counseling of the victim such processes as an explanation of the criminal justice process, accompaniment to court, assessment of the victim's different willingness, providing safety planning for victims, assessing the victim with housing need and ensure that this service that might be needed by the victim is offered in time. It remains a basic goal for every court to ensure that services are made available that can assure the victim's safety during the criminal case, outside the courtroom, and after the case is disposed of.

How to Prepare for the Court as a Witness

As a witness called by the court to present any evidence for a violation of a client’s human rights, it is important to make a proper preparation so that to ensure the case time does not take a long time and justice is served to your client in time.One of the most essential tips is to investigate and determine the truth, this can be done through personal assessment and research so that when I as the witness get to court will be having the required truth for the determination of the case (Moore, 2020). While preparing to present the evidence, I will research the possible question that is likely to be asked by the judges so that in any case the questions are asked, I will give the answers in clear precision and credibility.

As a standing witness, it is upon me to ensure that I learn about the necessary traits required of me to be able to present trusted evidence to the court.  Being truthful, listening carefully to the questions asked by the judges and waiting until the questions are asked, answering the asked questions only, taking my time to think about the asked questions, no guessing of answers while at the witness stand, asking for clarification (Pollock & Williams, 2017). 

Ethical Issue Likely to Arise with the Client

The ethical issue may arise when there is a conflict of understanding and fair treatment involving the victim as a client and the community service worker, the accused, and the court system. These ethical can include discrimination, unethical witnessing, intimidation, remaining impartial, failure in respecting the court system, are the most likely ethical issue to affect the victim and the community service worker (Fullerton & Patterson, 2021).

Talking about intimidation, the victim is already intimidated and undergoing a traumatizing situation, the accused can pose some intimidation to the witness and the victimized. The victim and the community worker should also ensure that they embrace truthful witnessing to avoid unethical witnessing (Atallah, 2017). The judges in the court should listen carefully to both sides to ensure proper judgment without being impartial, discriminative, and bias.

References

Atallah, D. G. (2017). A community-based qualitative study of intergenerational

resilience with Palestinian refugee families facing structural violence and

historical trauma. Transcultural psychiatry, 54(3), 357-383.

Braswell, M. C., McCarthy, B. R., & McCarthy, B. J. (2017). Justice, crime, and ethics.

Taylor & Francis.

Farrugia, V. (2020). Family Violence and the Crimes Amendment (Abolition of

Defensive Homicide) Act 2014 (Vic): Justice in the Accessibility of Self-

Defence (Doctoral dissertation, Victoria University).

Fullerton, R. S., & Patterson, M. J. (2021). Murder in Our Midst: Comparing Crime Coverage

Ethics in an Age of Globalized News. Oxford University Press, USA.         

Moore, J. M. (2020). “Law”,“order”,“justice”,“crime”: disrupting key concepts in criminology

through the study of colonial history. The Law Teacher, 54(4), 489-502.

Pollock, J. M., & Williams, H. E. (2017). Using ethical dilemmas in training police. Braswell,

McCarthy & McCarthy,(eds), Justice, crime and ethics.

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