IELTS Writing Task 2

Topic: Under British and Australian laws a jury in a criminal case has no access to information about the defendant’s past criminal record. This protects the person who is being accused of the crime.
Some lawyers have suggested that this practice should be changed and that a jury should be given all the past facts before they reach their decision about the case.
Do you agree or disagree? Give reasons for your answer.

Court is considered to be the most reliable place to seek for justice. There are a number of criminals who gain advantages from no access to the information of the defendant’s past criminal record. However, this practice has been criticized by some lawyers. Thus, there must be some access to the past facts before the case is decided to ensure equity and avoid unjust sentence.

Access to past facts of the defendant may be regarded as a human rights violation since every person has the right to privacy. Also, this may not be a logical practice to decide on a criminal case because the previous experience can be changed based on individual circumstances and environment. Furthermore, relating the new illicit case with the past record may lead to bias judgment. Therefore, access to past illegal record may not provide assistance in the determination of criminal cases.

On the contrary, these assumptions are completely wrong because the decision on criminal cases is not done expeditiously since this can affect people for their entire lives. Without access to the real information of the person who is being accused of the crime, the jury can not have a full consideration on the case. In addition, plenty of facts about the current and past record allow the jury to avoid uninformed judgment or punishment. For example, it has been shown in a movie called 12 angry men that a young man was accused for murdering his father. A number of facts, particularly his past criminal records assist the jury to have a fair judgment. Thus, access to the past facts is very useful for both juries and criminals.

In conclusion, past records should be allowed to access to facilitate juries in judgment process and avoid false punishment.

By Moeung Sovannden