” LAW ALONE IS NEVER ENOUGH” - JUDGE
Supreme Court Judge Justice Shiranee Tilakawardane claimed that the imposition of the death penalty would be an ineffective move to curb the rising rates of crime against women and children.
Delivering the introductory speech at the Medico Legal Society Oration 2012 held on 11 August Justice Tilakawardane pointed out that the move to bring the death penalty carried the risk of putting innocent people behind bars.
She claimed that in countries like USA even the execution of the death penalty has had no impact on the rates of crime com-
According to the United Nations Secretary General’s Study on violence around 73 million boys and girls were abused yearly
mitted against women and children.
Speaking f urther she stated that in order to curb the menace of child abuse the law should be held paramount and nobody should be above the law.
She said that “law alone is never enough” and added that an integrated mechanism where law, policy and societal attitudes working together is the key to tackle the issue of child abuse and rape.
Meanwhile the oration delivered by Dr. Rita Shackel, Associate Dean and Senior lecturer of the Law faculty of the University of Sydney highlighted the need for a holistic paradigm of law, psychology, medicine, criminology and other disciplines to address sexual victimisation.
Dr. Shackel said that law, especially, was suspicious of the new ways of thinking and new sciences. She noted that according to the United Nations Secretary General’s Study on violence around 73 million boys and girls were abused yearly.
While referring to anecdotal and empirical evidence she said that courts of law sometimes question the admissibility of charges when there was lack of spontaneity or a delay in disclosing the incident of abuse.
She said this approach adversely affected the system of justice because almost always the victims don’t disclose the incident to a figure of authority or to a parent. A study by Easteal, a researcher, showed that 37% of the victims of sexual abuse had not disclosed their suffering to anybody prior to the
This approach adversely affected the system of justice because almost always the victims don’t disclose the incident to a figure of authority or to a parent.
study.
A study by London in 2005 had revealed that two thirds of the victims of sexual abuse did not disclose their experiences at all.
While highlighting that disclosure happened almost always accidentally and not purposefully Dr. Shackle said that avoiding stereotyping and knowledge were essential to administer justice in cases of sexual abuse.