How laws are enforced

The yarn

• The courts in Australia are independent. A court decides if a person has broken the law and decides the penalty, based only on the evidence before them.
• The judge or magistrate is the highest authority in a court. They are independent and no one can tell them what to decide. Judges are appointed by the government, but the government cannot take their jobs away if it disagrees with their decisions.
• People are considered innocent until found guilty in a court. Every person has the right to be represented by a lawyer.
• A jury is a group of ordinary Australian citizens randomly chosen from the general population. The judge explains the law to the jury; the jury decides guilt or innocence; in a criminal trial, if the jury finds a person guilty, the judge decides the penalty.
• The police maintain peace and order and protect life and property. They are independent of the government. They can arrest people and bring them before a court, and may give evidence — but the court decides guilt.
• The states and the Northern Territory have their own police forces. The Australian Federal Police (AFP) investigates crimes against federal laws such as drug trafficking, national security and environmental crimes, and does general police work in the ACT.
• It is a serious crime to bribe the police in Australia — it is a crime even to offer a bribe.