Lionel Keith Murphy — An Appreciation
| Date | 01 December 1986 |
| DOI | 10.1177/000486588601900401 |
| Published date | 01 December 1986 |
| Subject Matter | Editorial |
AUST
&NZ
JOURNAL
OF
CRIMINOLOGY
(December 1986) 19 (193-194)
EDITORIAL
Lionel Keith Murphy - An Appreciation
193
Mr Justice Lionel Murphy died in Canberra on 21 October 1986. As Senator,
Attorney-General and High Court judge he had a great impact in many important
areas of Australian life. As a person, he had the rare ability to inspire people,
particularly young people, with his vision of life that was both humane and
optimistic. He was, of course, acontroversial figure - almost inevitably so given
his qualities and high public profile, but that is not of concern here. He made agreat
contribution to criminology (giving that term a wide interpretation) and it is fitting
that his achievements in this area be accorded some recognition in the
ANZ
Journal
of
Criminology.
As a Minister in the Whitlam government, he was responsible for a range of
measures of criminological significance. The Criminology Research
Act
1971 which
established the Australian Institute of Criminology and the Criminology Research
Council had come into operation shortly before Lionel Murphy became
Attorney-General. Lionel Murphy was the responsible Minister during the first
years of the Institute of Criminology's life and took considerable interest in its
development and performance, an interest he maintained for the rest of his life.
He was also the Minister responsible for the setting up of the Australian Law
Reform Commission - a body that in the comparatively short period of its
existence has produced anumber of high quality reports on matters of obvious
criminological significance: for example, Criminal Investigation, Sentencing,
Evidence. The
Trade
Practices Act 1974, which Senator Murphy piloted through
parliament, created new consumer protection provisions and provided substantial
penalties for their breach: these were white-collar offences which were being
treated as serious and criminal.
From the criminological standpoint, however, it is his initiatives in the area of
legal aid that were perhaps his most significant contribution as a government
minister. In 1973, he established the Australian Legal Aid Office and set in motion
the
major
increases in legal aid which have occurred in the last dozen years. In the
area of criminal law, Lionel Murphy saw legal aid, at least in serious cases, as a
fundamental protection for
poor
defendants. As he later said in his fine dissenting
judgment in McInnis (1979) 27
ALR
449 at 464:
Often courts cannot remedy denial of human rights which occur outside the judicial system, but there
is no excuse for tolerating it within the system. It is useless to pretend that the rule of law operates
throughout Australia when a basic human right is denied in it State Supreme Court, its denial confirmed
there on appeal, and then tolerated by this court. The case is of general public importance because an
indigent accused has been convicted of serious crimes after a trial which was unfair because he was denied
representation and because such an unfair trial is not exceptional, at least in Western Australia.
The impact of increased legal aid on the criminal justice system has been
substantial -resulting in many cases in greater protection of the accused's rights
and the more efficient administration of justice.
As High Court judge, Lionel Murphy retained his deep, and indeed passionate,
commitment
tothe
protection of the rights of accused persons and the development
of a fairer, more humane criminal justice system.
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