Specialist Research Laboratory

Procedural Justice Laboratory

Summary of Research Activities:

• Procedural justice for children and young people:

  We have been developing a program of research to consider young people's sense of justice and the way in which there are treated with fairness and justice in social institutions. Procedural justice for young people is an emerging area of research, although procedural justice for adults has been an important area of concern in organisational, political and judicial settings.

This research has led to the development of interactive computer programs suitable for data collection with children and young people, especially on sensitive issues.

• Procedural justice for victims of crime:

  In an ARC Discovery Project with Dr Stuart Ross and Dr Adam Sutton from Criminology, we are examining how victims of crime obtain procedural justice within the criminal justice system. We are working with several organizations supporting victims of crime. Ms Athena Politis is providing research assistance on the ARC Project.

• Court processes and judicial reasoning

  Currently, I am engaged in a project funded by the Victoria Law Foundation in developing a data-base of children protection order for the Melbourne Children's Court. This involves developing suitable data-bases for examining court processes and a scheme for analyzing court records of child protection orders for children under 4 years old. In collaboration with the Melbourne Children ’s Court, we have developed a procedural manual for accessing research data from court computerized and hard copy records. The data are being used to analyse the bases and processing of protection applications for young children through the children’s courts.

We are commencing a similar analysis of child protection issues in association with Dr. Pat Brown of the Melbourne Children’s Court Clinic. Aino Suomi is a graduate student on this project.

Research Staff:

Associate Professor Jeanette Lawrence

• Research Collaborators:
  
  Dr. Stuart Ross, Melbourne University Private and Department of Criminology.
  
  Professor Kathy Laster,Executive Director, Institute of Public Administration of Australia (IPAAA), The Victoria Law Foundation, on current research in Victoria Children's Courts, together with Judge Paul Grant, President of the Children's Court, and Mr. Greg Levine, Magistrate, Melbourne Children's Court.
  
  Hugh Campbell and Alastair McInnes of Highbrow Interactive, for the development of computer-based data collection instrument

Research Methodology:

"Safeguarding Fairness for Children" and "Safeguarding Fairness for Young People" are interactive computer programs that allow young people to express their views and concerns about the procedural criteria that should be in place to safeguard the rights and interests of children in interactions with adults. In several forms, the program uses a combination of rating, ranking and open-ended questions to allow young people to express their preferences for safeguards (e.g., having the adult explain, having someone to speak up, being able to appeal). They also can indicate if and when they expect that adults will treat them with procedural fairness and respect. The programs allow for variations of interactions, circumstances and contexts.

We have provided educational and psychological program design to Prof. Judy Cashmore and the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics. The program, "Kids in Court" is a computer-assisted interview that allows children to express their thoughts and feelings in a safe and meaningful way.

For further information, please contact Associate Professor Jeanette Lawrence.

Funding & Grants:

Current Research Students:

• Aino Suomi