Category Archives: Democracy and Justice

Andrew L. Urban. Universities going rogue on freedom of speech are on notice, in the wake of the April 17, 2019 judgement by Salvatore Vasta in favour of Professor Peter Ridd, who urged greater scrutiny of scientific reporting on the … Continue reading →

Andrew L. Urban. In the wake of the Victorian State election on November 24, 2018, Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party (probably with four shiny Upper House seats) will seek to make public on a website the register of sexual offenders currently … Continue reading →

By Andrew L. Urban The WA police defamed an innocent man by publicly naming him soon after starting their investigation as the only suspect in his wife’s murder. He was eventually (three years later) charged, tried and acquitted. Twice. He … Continue reading →

Innocent people – at least 71 known*, the total unknowable – have been held or are stuck in Australian jails on lengthy sentences for murders or rapes they did not commit. This comes as no surprise to those who, like … Continue reading →

By Andrew L. Urban. As Gordon Wood, acquitted in 2014 of murdering his girlfriend Caroline Byrne in 1995, awaits the decision (expected by end of 2017) on his recently concluded malicious prosecution case against the State of NSW, at least … Continue reading →

By Andrew L. Urban A man convicted of murder is still in jail after 33 years, 11 years after he was eligible for parole, because he will not relent on his claim of innocence. He has always maintained that he … Continue reading →

By Andrew L. Urban. Shortly after 10 am on Monday October 30, 2017, a slight young woman with blonde hair up in a bun and breathing nervously, took the witness stand in the packed Court 1 of Hobart’s Supreme Court. … Continue reading →

By Andrew L. Urban. Not Guilty: The Sydney Exoneration Project is a new psychology and law research program at The University of Sydney that reviews cases of possible wrongful convictions, founded by Dr Celine Van Golde in the Faculty of … Continue reading →

By Andrew L. Urban. South Australian DPP Adam Kimber has abandoned his attempt to re-try Henry Keogh for the 1994 murder of Keogh’s late girlfriend Anna-Jane Cheney, claiming his reason that a key witness is too ill. At first he … Continue reading →

By Andrew L. Urban The chronic, long term failure of the South Australian legal system to ensure that its chief forensic pathologist was suitably qualified to give evidence was a ticking time bomb that is now about to explode, with … Continue reading →