Photography as an Evidentiary Tool: The Creation of Accurate Evidence

Questions of Guilt and Innocence in the Victorian Criminal Trial of Robert Farquharson and the Fact Before Theory Internet Campaign

“…It is hoped that this article has made a useful contribution to discussions about the role of new media in bringing questions of guilt and innocence, crime and justice or injustice as the case may be to the attention of the legal and wider community. As recently noted by Lumby (2008), in 2005, Chief Justice of NSW, Jim Spigelman, canvassed the issue of whether, and to what extent, the internet 15 This is the purported view adopted by Associate Professor Gale Edward Spring (2001), Program Leader of Scientific Photography at RMIT University, whose testimony at the Farquharson trial also sought to cast doubt on the Crown's 'three steer theory' (Farquharson trial transcript 2007(Farquharson trial transcript :2311(Farquharson trial transcript -2330. Discussing the challenges posed by 'transient evidence', evidence that exists for only a short period of time, according to Spring, if a photograph is to have some basis in science, it must be created as accurately as possible, and 'the original photographs [should] be of the highest quality', particularly if the significance of the evidence is not known when first witnessed by the investigating officer (Spring 2001:282 poses a significant challenge to conventional criminal trials.…”