Balancing the Scales

This article was researched and written on the unceded lands of the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung and Bunurong people.

Author: Emily Marthick

Australia’s justice system was never designed to serve everyone.

This year’s International Women’s Day theme – Balancing the Scales – as set by UN Women Australia, invited us to reflect on what justice really looks like for women across this nation. Popular messaging often portrays justice as exclusively that which is delivered in courtrooms, by police forces and through correctional services. This, however, is only one conception of “justice being served”. For many women experiencing domestic, family or sexual violence (DFSV), justice cannot simply be measured by the outcomes of a response from our correctional systems and services. That holds even truer for women who face layers of oppression related to their ethnicity, faith, ability, social status, immigration status and so on,

As someone of European settler descent, the imagery of a set of scales has always alluded to the balancing of interests, finding the balance of what is ‘fair’ and ‘right’. For most of my life, I haven’t reflected on or questioned this symbol, however I realise this is because justice has been built to serve me, as a settler-colonial person. For those who benefit from this system, it is all too easy to forget the people who are left outside of it – people who are marginalised by oppressive systems and structures that underpin our Justice services. For them, it’s far more likely that the scales of justice depict a long history of a process that is unchallenged, unchanged, and continues to harm the people it excludes.

The justice system commonly recognised in Australia is not the only justice system that has been understood or practiced. Thanks to colonisation, other justice systems have been forcibly dismantled, and constraining many nations to practice one form of justice. But other ancient systems of Lore still exist, and could still be revived to create justice that is culturally informed. This raises an important question: could we find a form of justice that delivers a fair outcome for all people? Could there be a system of justice that prioritises the safety, healing, and prevention of further harm?

As I grow in my learning about colonial systems and histories, so does my belief that justice is not equally granted to culturally and racially marginalised people who experience and/or use violence without sensitive and deep listening to culture. That way, restorative approaches can be formed that are key to advancing the provision of access to justice for culturally and racially marginalised people in the face of DFSV experiences.

Whereas penal consequences that claim to deliver justice can perpetuate new forms of trauma and disadvantage, we can learn from other models and move towards approaches that prioritise repairing harm, strengthening accountability, and creating the conditions for lasting behavioural change. For many culturally and racially marginalised communities in Australia, starting with the first peoples of these lands, justice is understood not only through punishment, but through strengthening relationships, community, healing, and collective wellbeing. Yet, in a legal system grounded in colonial legal traditions, these understandings of harm and accountability are overlooked. While initiatives that incorporate culturally informed and community-led approaches demonstrate that alternative responses are possible, they remain limited in both availability and scope. It is also essential to acknowledge that there are times where these approaches are not appropriate, and should only occur when the safety, autonomy and informed choice of people using and/or experiencing violence can be guaranteed.

Nevertheless, culturally informed, trauma-informed, and community-led responses that centre accountability, healing and connection offer pathways to justice beyond the traditional punitive approaches of the colonial justice system.

A justice system designed around a single worldview cannot fully respond to the needs of a culturally diverse society. This matters because the consequences extend far beyond the courtroom. When people do not trust legal institutions, when they fear discrimination, or when systems fail to recognise their cultural realities, opportunities to prevent violence and support people experiencing and/or using violence are lost. The ongoing prevalence of violence against women and children reminds us that our existing responses are not enough. Reimagining requires creating a system that is culturally informed, trauma-informed and community-informed, where diverse ways of understanding accountability, safety and healing can strengthen legal responses. Only then can justice become something that delivers for everyone, rather than only for those it was originally designed to serve.

Colonial systems of law are designed around colonial assumptions of justice, meaning they will continue to subjugate those whose cultures, experiences, and ways of knowing fall outside of them. The racist and patriarchal foundations of the Australian legal system continues to shape whose experiences are believed, whose safety is prioritised, and whose voices are heard. If we are really serious about preventing and responding to family, domestic, and sexual violence, then we must be willing to imagine justice as being culturally-informed, trauma-informed, and capable of delivering for people experiencing and/or using violence.

About the Author

Emily Marthick is completing an internship at Institute of non-violence as part of her current Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Politics and International Relations at the University of Melbourne. She has a strong interest in systems of social change and is passionate about developing policies and practices that create more just, equitable, and sustainable communities.