Amanda Darshini Selvarajah
A Bachelor of Laws (LLB) (Honours) graduate at Monash University with a passion for questioning and trying to improve the status quo. From researching potential areas for legal reform to brainstorming exciting, new ways to engage my students, I love finding innovative ways to improve. As a graduate, I hope be part of an organisation where I can sharpen and exercise these skills and work in an environment that believes in the importance of creativity, collaboration and diversity as much as I do.
Learn About What I've Done & Do
From piano teaching to interning at the Australian Law Reform Commission, the driving force behind every opportunity I've taken on has been a desire to be of service and make a difference. It's made for a fantastic list of experiences, which you can find in a copy of my CV below. I've also been lucky enough to indulge my love for writing and research throughout my degree. You can find some of the publications and presentations I've done below too.
Transgender Women in Prisons: Where the Real Risks Lie
In early March 2019, the UK established their first ‘transgender unit’ in a women’s prison, that would separate three transgender inmates from the other women. The Ministry of Justice said the move was ‘not part of a wider policy for transgender offenders’. However, the move does run the risk of perpetuating the harmful stereotype that transgender women are a threat to others and stifling efforts to rightly integrate transgender women into women’s prisons.
An Independent Victim's Lawyer to Protect 'Vulnerable Individuals': Can the VLRC's Recommendation be Implemented and if So, Should It?
My Honours thesis focused on a recommendation from the Victorian Law Reform Commission to provide independent victim's lawyer to victims of violent indictable crimes. Driven by my belief in the value of the recommendation, I wanted to explore its feasibility, in particular, the requirement that the service be used for 'vulnerable' victims and what some of the challenges and disadvantages may be for such a requirement.
Improving the Accessibility of the Family Law System
This was a submission I worked on as part of the Women's Rights Group in the Monash Law Student Society's Just Leadership Program for the Australian Law Reform Commission's Review of the Family Law System and has since been cited in their Discussion Paper, posted on the official blog of Monash Feminist Legal Studies Group and featured as a poster at Monash's Elimination of Violence Against Women Event. It includes recommendations based on interviews with family lawyers, social workers and a family court judge to improve the system's accessibility for marginalised litigants in particular.
How the British Crown Acquired Indigenous Sovereignty
The highest courts in Australia, the United States, Canada, and New Zealand have all confirmed that the British Crown acquired sovereignty over Indigenous land in some way or another. This article provides a comparative look at each jurisdiction's justifications. Ultimately, however, all their explanations inevitably either deny or diminish pre-existing Indigenous sovereignty.
Individualised Prosecution in International Criminal Justice: The Symbol vs. The Substance
My 2017 International Conference of Undergraduate Research presentation argued that the individualised prosecution of the perpetrators of history’s greatest tragedies failed to accommodate the objectives of international criminal justice. Christoph Safferling’s International Criminal Procedure identifies objectives of international criminal justice to include ‘justice for the victims’, ‘deterrence’ and ‘accountability’. My research examined the effect of individualised prosecution on these objectives by applying real-life examples and the accounts of international criminal justice experts.
I argued that the prosecutorial process can prevent holistic and accurate portrayals of victims’ experiences – an incredibly important part of many victims’ paths to reconciliation and closure. Furthermore, the objectives of ‘deterrence’ and ‘accountability’ are similarly strained through individual prosecution as they fail to address the root causes of a conflict, which are often rooted in economic, religious or racial dynamics that have existed for years. Moreover, the international community’s reputation of bias against Africa has actually made the defiance of international law a politically advantageous move for some leaders. Lastly, I argued that the threat of prosecution can sometimes prolong a leader’s stay in power to enjoy the immunity their position affords and therefore prolong their people’s suffering under their reign. Therefore, I hoped that by highlighting the pitfalls of individualised prosecution, a shift could begin from framing our sentencing procedures through a lens of retribution or revenge towards one that prioritises victims’ healing and societal improvement instead.
Nearly Neutral: A Mediator's Best Bet
The National Mediator Accreditation System removed “neutrality” as a requirement on their list of ethical standards in 2015. Does this mean we are to rule out neutrality entirely as an ethical consideration in mediation? This article suggests a reconceptualisation of neutrality as a constant practical endeavour throughout the mediation process, a mediator who’s nearly neutral.
Questioning the Reliability of Forensic Evidence: A Lonely But Necessary Road
My 2016 International Conference of Undergraduate Research presentation sought to prove that forensic evidence has an unwarranted reputation of infallibility that can have devastating consequences in the hands of lay jurors. The paper highlighted cases of tragic, false convictions, illustrating juries’ unwavering loyalty to forensic evidence, even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. It demonstrated how for almost all of its history, forensic science has operated with little if any criticism or independent validation, as exposed by the 2009 National Academy of Sciences’ damning report. Finally, it addresses Australia’s recent IMM v R (2016) High Court decision that dismissed reliability as a criterion in admitting expert evidence, a ruling that will undoubtedly only discourage efforts to research forensic evidence’s reliability. Especially given the many limitations such research would have to overcome like the commercialisation of forensic technologies, the impracticality of evaluations in areas like arson, and the money and expertise needed to evaluate such a diverse field. Determining reliability before admittance at trial, however, is necessary. Exposing forensic evidence’s unreliability at trial, an already contrarian view that typically is the burden of an under-resourced defence, is practically impossible. Therefore, this paper suggested devoting greater resources to research the reliability of forensic evidence and a stronger judicial gate-keeping role in evidence admittance, with reference to Victorian and American precedents.
In the Media
I've been lucky enough to have been asked to talk about some of the causes and organisations I've worked on. You can find out more below.
Serving as co-convener to Monash Future Thinker's 2018 conference, Towards 2050, my colleagues and I sat down with MOJO News who offered to cover the event before the big day that ended up drawing in over 200 academics, students and professionals. Visit futurethinkers.org.au for what Future Thinkers has in store this year!
Get in Touch
Thank you for taking the time for visiting my site. I love collaborating, embracing new opportunities, and meeting new people so please feel free to get in touch!
Melbourne VIC, Australia
