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:
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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]
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]
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