scholarly journals Fourteen-Year Trends in the Criminal Justice Response to Child Sexual Abuse Reports in New South Wales

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith Cashmore ◽  
Alan Taylor ◽  
Patrick Parkinson
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Criminal Proceedings ◽  
Sexual Offenses ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Lower Courts ◽  
Criminal Justice Response ◽  
Alleged Victim

This study of attrition compares the prosecution of child sexual offenses reported while the complainant was still a child with those in which the report was delayed into adulthood; it also compares matters involving adult and young (under 18 years) suspects/defendants. It is based on an analysis of police and court administrative data in New South Wales, Australia over a 14-year period (2003–2016). Only one in five (21.6%) proceeded beyond the investigation stage. Criminal proceedings were more likely to commence when the alleged victim was 7–12 years old at the time of the incident, when the suspect was an adult and at least 10 years older than the victim, and also when the report to police was made when the victim was an adult. Just over half (55.5%) of the matters finalized in court resulted in a conviction. Cases in the higher courts were less likely to be dismissed and more likely to feature guilty pleas and convictions at trial than cases in the lower courts. The overall estimate is that only 12% of offenses reported to police resulted in a conviction, at a relatively stable rate over 14 years. These findings are consistent with those of comparable studies.

Does the ‘Two Dogs’ Method of Clandestine Synthesis Use Precursors that are not Legally Regulated on the Australian East Coast?

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 26-28
Author(s):  
Victor Chiruta ◽  
Robert Renshaw
Keyword(s):  
Literature Search ◽  
East Coast ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
The State ◽  
Criminal Proceedings ◽  
Legal Provisions ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Comprehensive Literature Search

In the State of New South Wales (NSW), Australia, the prosecution in criminal proceedings is seeking deterrence punishment for offenders manufacturing 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA) from the precursor helional via the ‘Two Dogs’ method (TDM). The reason given by the prosecution is a presumption that the TDM does not use any unrestricted chemicals in the synthesis of MDA. A comprehensive literature search was conducted. The relevant law was searched to fact-check the assertion of the prosecution. It was found that the prosecution was incorrect. Intermediate precursors of the TDM are restricted in NSW. However, the starting precursor helional remains unscheduled in NSW, yet helional is scheduled in some other Australian States. The prosecution’s position may play a significant factor in the sentencing proceedings of offenders. Therefore, as a matter of urgency, the prosecution must review and update its position and its submissions, keeping with the factual position in relation to the legal provisions of precursors used in the TDM.

scholarly journals INTERPRETATION AND RECTIFICATION IN AUSTRALIA

2017 ◽  
Vol 76 (3) ◽  
pp. 483-486 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul S. Davies
Keyword(s):  
New South ◽  
Common Law ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
High Court ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Housing Corporation ◽  
Lower Courts ◽  
The Law ◽  
High Court Of Australia

Both interpretation and rectification continue to pose problems. Difficulties are compounded by blurring the boundary between the two. In Simic v New South Wales Land and Housing Corporation [2016] HCA 47, the High Court of Australia overturned the decisions of the lower courts which had held that performance bonds could be interpreted in a “loose” manner in order to correct a mistake. However, the documents could be rectified in order to reflect the actual intentions of the parties. This decision should be welcomed: the mistake was more appropriately corrected through the equitable jurisdiction than at common law. Significantly, the concurring judgments of French C.J. and Kiefel J. highlight that the law of rectification now seems to be different in Australia from the law in England. It is to be hoped that the English approach will soon be revisited (see further P. Davies, “Rectification versus Interpretation” [2016] C.L.J. 62).

scholarly journals Imposed Stories: Prisoner Self-narratives in the Criminal Justice System in New South Wales, Australia

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maggie Hall ◽  
Kate Rossmanith
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Justice System ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Ethnographic Fieldwork ◽  
South Wales

This article examines the ways in which offenders are required to provide very particular accounts of themselves and to self-narrate in confined ways. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork and interviews conducted in the New South Wales justice system, it explores how the stories that offenders are made to accept and tell about themselves often bear little relationship to their own reflections. It analyses how, despite the expectations of judges and prison authorities, these self-narratives are not products of an offender’s soul-searching concerning his past actions and experience; rather they are products of an official legal narrative being imposed on an offender whose capacity to own and enact such a narrative is already seriously compromised.

scholarly journals Common Sense or Unnecessary Complexity? The Recent Change to the Right to Silence in New South Wales

2014 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 311
Author(s):  
Ashley Cameron
Keyword(s):  
Common Sense ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Recent Change ◽  
Close Monitoring ◽  
Criminal Proceedings ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Right To Silence ◽  
The Right

The New South Wales government has now enacted section 89A of the Evidence Act 1995 (NSW), which will significantly amend the right to silence. The new provision allows courts in certain circumstances to draw unfavourable inferences from evidence of silence in criminal proceedings. Parliament has justified the legislation as a ‘common sense’ approach, intended to prevent offenders hiding behind a wall of silence. However the benefits of the legislation are expected to be minimal at best. Although critics have already put forward weighty theoretical arguments opposing the enactment of the new provision, how it will operate in New South Wales courts remains to be seen. This article will undertake a detailed comparative analysis, examining the operation of similar legislation in the United Kingdom to determine how section 89A might be interpreted and applied in New South Wales. This analysis suggests that the need for extensive and complicated jury directions, the problems in determining whether the provision is to be invoked at all, and the complex test used in deciding whether it was reasonable for the accused to remain silent, will create significant difficulties in the application of section 89A. It is contended that the number and seriousness of these difficulties, coupled with the only limited benefit (if any) to be derived from the section, justify the close monitoring of section 89A and its review at an appropriate time.

Battered Women, Startled Householders and Psychological Self-Defence: Anglo-Australian Perspectives

2013 ◽  
Vol 77 (5) ◽  
pp. 433-457 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicola Wake
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Battered Women ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Self Control ◽  
Loss Of Control ◽  
Loss Of Self ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Self Defence

This article provides a timely and critical reappraisal of the interconnected, but discrete, doctrines of loss of self-control, under ss 54–56 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009, and self-defence within s. 76 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008. The loss of control conceptualisation renders it difficult for defendants to claim the partial defence where exculpatory self-defence has been rejected, and fear of serious violence is adduced. This doctrinal incoherence has been exacerbated by the fact that s. 43 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013 effectively legitimises the use of disproportionate force in self-defence, but only in ‘startled householder’ cases. A more appropriate avenue of reform is provided by developments in Australian jurisdictions. This comparative extirpation engages the introduction of a new partial defence of self-preservation/psychological self-defence predicated on the notion of excessive utilisation of force in self-defence as in New South Wales, supplemented with a ‘social framework’ provision, akin to that in Victoria. The new defence would avoid the problems associated with requiring the abused woman to establish a loss of self-control and/or affording an affirmative defence in ‘startled householder’ cases.

scholarly journals Dealing With Radicalised Youth Offenders: The Development and Implementation of a Youth-Specific Framework

2022 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Barracosa ◽  
James March
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Case Management ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Youth Offenders ◽  
Youth Justice ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Violent Extremism

Background: In 2018 in the Australian State of New South Wales, a specialist Countering Violent Extremism Unit was established in the youth criminal justice system. This was in direct response to a number of youth below the age of 18 who have been charged for terrorism offences and identified as involved in violent extremist acts. This youth-specific framework was the first of its kind in Australia. It was designed to provide multidisciplinary practitioner-based approaches for the early-identification, diversion, and disengagement of at-risk and radicalised youth offenders.Aims: This paper will explore the experiences and lessons learned by the Youth Justice New South Wales Countering Violent Extremism Unit. It will discuss the relevance of youth radicalisation within Australia's evolving national security climate. This includes emerging trends in relation to youth radicalisation to varied violent extremist ideologies. This paper will explore the specialist approach adopted for preventing and countering violent extremism through the identification, assessment, and case management of at-risk and radicalised youth offenders.Implications: The Youth Justice New South Wales experience indicates that youth criminal justice settings can be designed to tackle the challenges posed by at-risk and radicalised youth. The practitioner experience canvassed in this paper highlights that a pluralistic and non-punitive approach to supervision, client-focused assessment and case management processes, and widespread resourcing of multidisciplinary practitioners and programs can be used to account for developmental and psychosocial vulnerabilities in addition to violent extremism risk factors amongst youth offenders. These approaches should be supplemented by youth-specific countering violent extremism practitioner expertise, and a range of violent extremism case management and risk assessment measures.

scholarly journals Feminist Interventions in Law Reform: Criminalising Image-Based Sexual Abuse in New South Wales

Laws ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kcasey McLoughlin ◽  
Alex O’Brien
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Public Consultation ◽  
Law Reform ◽  
Consultation Process ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Women's Lives ◽  
The Government ◽  
Image Based Sexual Abuse

Feminist legal theorists have had something of an uneasy relationship with law reform. Although feminist academics and lawyers have contributed much to law reform efforts that have sought to improve women’s lives, feminists have nonetheless taken divergent positions regarding the extent to which these efforts can truly dismantle the masculinist character of law through law reform projects. This article revisits these tensions and, in so doing, seeks to better understand the extent to which feminists can meaningfully contribute to law reform projects. The criminalisation of image-based sexual abuse in New South Wales (Australia) serves as a case study to examine and re-examine these tensions. In September 2016, the New South Wales government announced that it was proposing to criminalise the distribution of certain images without consent. Following a public consultation process, the government legislated for a new offense directed at the distribution of these images. Although there is certainly not one all-encompassing feminist understanding of image-based sexual abuse, the importance of understanding this practice as abuse and as existing within a culture that normalises and sustains nonconsensual activity nonetheless has been a key feminist concern in agitating for law reform in this area. This article examines the extent to which the legislative response took seriously the harms engendered by image-based sexual abuse.

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