Tag: First Nations Peoples

I have recently authored two articles in the First Nations Law Bulletin that may be of interest to subscribers of this blog.

Looking Beyond the Lineup: Evaluating the Fairness of ‘Digiboard’ Identification Evidence for First Nations Peoples

The most recently published article relates to identification evidence. Unlike the Uniform Evidence legislation in other Australian jurisdictions, WA’s proposed new Evidence legislation (which is still yet to pass through parliament) does not require police to conduct identification parades as a general rule. Instead, it enables police to continue to obtain identification evidence by way of ‘digiboard’ identification procedures (these are essentially digitised photoboards). This article briefly considers whether this divergence in the WA law is likely to be consequential for First Nations peoples. Is WA’s decision not to require identification parades problematic, or is there no material difference between the identification procedures?

You can download the article below. The article can be cited as: Aidan Ricciardo, ‘Looking Beyond the Lineup: Evaluating the Fairness of ‘Digiboard’ Identification Evidence for First Nations Peoples’ (2024) 1(4-5) First Nations Law Bulletin 55.

Denial of Language: Grounds for Occasioning an Unfair Trial?

The earlier article is based on a previous post from this blog, covering Solomon J’s decision in Murray v Feast [2023] WASC 273. That decision represents a significant development of the law – it acknowledges that an unfair trial can be occasioned where a judicial officer fails to recognise the ‘linguistic distinctiveness’ of an Aboriginal person, even where a complete interpretation is provided and no material misinterpretation or misunderstanding of evidence can be identified.

You can download the article below. The article can be cited as: Aidan Ricciardo, ‘Denial of Language: Grounds for Occasioning an Unfair Trial?’ (2024) 1(3) First Nations Law Bulletin 43.