- Kangaroo court
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A kangaroo court is "a mock court in which the principles of law and justice are disregarded or perverted".[1]
The outcome of a trial by kangaroo court is essentially determined in advance, usually for the purpose of ensuring conviction, either by going through the motions of manipulated procedure or by allowing no defense at all. A kangaroo court's proceedings deny, hinder or obstruct due process rights in the name of expediency. Typically, a kangaroo court will deliberately abuse one or more of the following rights of the accused:
- right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty
- right to control one's own defense e.g. selecting one's own defense counsel
- right to hear a full and precise statement of the charges made against the accused
- right to have adequate time and resources to prepare a defense against the charges
- right not to incriminate oneself
- right to summon witnesses
- right of cross-examination
- right to introduce evidence which supports acquittal of the accused
- right to exclude evidence that is improperly obtained, irrelevant or inherently inadmissible, e.g., hearsay
- right not to be tried on secret evidence
- right to exclude judges or jurors on the grounds of partiality, prejudice or conflict of interest
- right to have a verbatim stenographic record of the trial proceedings created
- right to have no interference or undue influence made by external agencies e.g. political or military leaders
- right of appeal against conviction
Contents
Etymology
The term kangaroo court may have been popularized during the California Gold Rush of 1849. The first recorded use is from 1853 in a Texas context.[2] It comes from the notion of justice proceeding "by leaps", like a kangaroo.[2] The phrase is considered an Americanism.[2]
Mock justice
The term is often applied to courts subjectively judged as such, while others consider the court to be legitimate and legal. A kangaroo court may be a court that has had its integrity compromised; for example, if the judge is not impartial and refuses to be recused.
It may also be an elaborately scripted event intended to appear fair while having the outcome predetermined from the start. Terms meaning "show trial", like the German Schauprozess, indicate the result is fixed before (usually guilty): the "trial" is just for show. Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin's kangaroo trials against his enemies, whom he labeled enemies of the people, were notorious, notably in the context of the Great Purge.
In 2008, Singapore’s Attorney-General applied to the High Court to commence contempt proceedings against three individuals who appeared in the new Supreme Court building wearing identical white T-shirts bearing a palm-sized picture of a kangaroo dressed in a judge’s gown.[3]
Following the January 25 Revolution in Egypt in 2011, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces used military trials to obtain convictions of civilians in possibly over 10,000 trials that lasted on average 20 minutes, and in some cases lasting only a few minutes.[4]
Examples of show trials
- Joseph Stalin's Show Trials in 1936, 1937 and 1938, where the accused were being tortured to confess, in the context of the Great Purge.
- The Nazi Volksgerichtshof trials of the 20 July plot collaborators, who attempted to assassinate Hitler. The accused were stripped of their belts to appear pathetic before the audience, having to hold up their pants. The judge, Roland Freisler, a fanatical Nazi, shouted furious insults at the accused throughout the trial, which was filmed for propaganda purposes.[5]
As informal proceedings in sports
The term is sometimes used without any negative connotation. For example, many Major League Baseball teams have a kangaroo court to punish players for errors and other mistakes on the field, as well as for being late for a game or practice, not wearing proper attire to road games, or having a messy locker in the clubhouse. Fines are allotted, and at the end of the year, the money collected is given to charity. The organization may also use the money for a team party at the end of the season.[6]
This type of kangaroo court is common in Rugby Union teams and clubs in the West where fines are given at the end of a tour or season. The fines are dealt with either by forfeits or tasks.
In 1975, the Cleveland Indians of the American League held a kangaroo court where players were fined one dollar for silly offenses,[7] and the New York Yankees players have held several such mock "courts" in their clubhouse throughout the team's history.[8]
Professional sport governing bodies including FIFA and the English FA have also been regularly known to run their disciplinary procedures for officials, players and clubs/nations under such conditions
See also
- Drumhead court-martial
- Legal abuse
- Lynching
- Paths of Glory
- Setting up to fail
- Star Chamber
- War trials
- Meir Tobianski
- Ontario Human Rights Commission
- Show trial
References
- ^ "kangaroo court". Merriam-Webster: Dictionary (online). http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/kangaroo%20court. Retrieved 2011-11-11.
- ^ a b c "kangaroo court" dictionary.com
- ^ "Three face court over kangaroo T-shirts". Reuters. http://uk.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUKTRE49D3XB20081014.
- ^ Hendawi, Hamza (18 July 2011). "Egyptians fear army rulers acting as new Mubaraks". The Daily News Egypt. http://www.thedailynewsegypt.com/egypt/egyptians-fear-army-rulers-acting-as-new-mubaraks.html. Retrieved 19 July 2011.
- ^ William Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (Touchstone Edition) (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1990) pp. 1070-1071
- ^ Bouton, Jim (1990). Ball Four (2nd ed. ed.). Wiley. ISBN 0-0203-0665-2.
- ^ Schneider, Russell J. (1976), Frank Robinson: The Making of a Manager, New York: Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, ISBN 0698107314.
- ^ http://bombersbeat.mlblogs.com/archives/2010/07/kangaroo_court_is_in_session.html
External links
Categories:- English phrases
- Informal legal terms
- Types of trials
- Courts
- Abuse of the legal system
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