Merging the back-end operations of Australia’s federal courts could have significant implications for the way in which resources are allocated to meet the needs of family courts and their clients.
Oscar Pistorius was convicted of culpable homicide for what was deemed a tragic accident. In light of that verdict, he has not been subject to any special treatment in terms of his sentence.
Funding CCTV cameras annihilated a proposal in NSW to create a mentoring program directed at young women in prisons or undergoing release.
AAP/Julian Smith
Women coming out of jail require forms of assistance that are not simply directed at technologies for prevention or elimination of recidivism, but rather that are focused on health and well-being.
Australia acknowledges the sacrifices of war veterans on commemorative occasions, but those who are charged with criminal offences can only hope the court shows understanding.
AAP/Rebecca Le May
One of the great issues of our day is inequality. Whether it is the Greek debt crisis, anxieties about Sydney real estate prices, the continuing resonance of “Occupy” and cries about the “1%”, or the publishing…
President Barack Obama and his inner circle follow the assassination of Osama bin Laden, which made headlines worldwide but is seemingly unimportant four years on.
EPA/Pete Souza/White House handout
Memories of the killing of Osama bin Laden are fading, but the legacies of al-Qaeda and the war on terror’s many ‘own goals’ haunt us in the form of multiplying threats and lost civil liberties.
A woman holds a picture of her relative missing in the Rana Plaza collapse.
REUTERS/Andrew Biraj
The horrific collapse of a factory in Bangladesh that killed hundreds sent American scrambling for ways to ensure this doesn’t happen again. A professor explains why boycotts are not the answer.
The High Court has upheld a NSW Court of Appeal decision that ICAC had no power to investigate Crown prosecutor Margaret Cunneen.
AAP/Dan Himbrechts
The High Court has decided ICAC did not have the power to investigate a NSW Crown prosecutor, so the commission will have to review investigations involving the conduct of private individuals.
Differences in personal resources and capabilities mean that the most vulnerable Australians find the legal system inaccessible.
AAP/April Fonti
The demand for government-funded legal services is large and growing. Simply “not cutting” these services does the community a grave disservice.
Research has shown that when sex work is illegal, street sex workers who are victims of sexual assault are reluctant to report it to police.
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There is a non-binding precedent in Victoria that allows judges to consider the victim’s sexual experience when passing sentence on a sex offender – but only when the “victim is a prostitute”.
Advances in science are causing problems in courtrooms.
Petretei
Despite what we see on television, forensic science is not always easy to understand or simple to convey to a jury, many of whom may not have studied science since they were in school. When a case fails…
Lana Towers was murdered by her partner. The court heard statements on the impact of her death on family and friends and, for the first time, on the broader community impacts of domestic violence.
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In May 2013, Michael Suve McDonald beat to death Lana Towers, his partner of eight years and the mother of their two children. In what is thought to be a world first, the South Australian Commissioner…
Should Australia’s High Court judges be representative of the community that their rulings affect? Should politics play a part?
AAP/Lukas Coch
Late last week, the federal government appointed Geoffrey Nettle, a Victorian Court of Appeal judge, to the High Court to replace retiring justice Susan Crennan. Nettle is an excellent lawyer and his appointment…
The Productivity Commission rightly identified widespread concerns that Australia’s civil justice system is too slow, too expensive and too adversarial.
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The Productivity Commission raised a few eyebrows when it called for an additional A$200 million for legal assistance services to disadvantaged Australians, who are “more susceptible to, and less equipped…
A grand jury decision not to indict a police officer over the shooting death of Michael Brown has sparked protests and questions over the system’s efficacy.
EPA/Michael Reynolds
The idea of the grand jury is already familiar to many Australians through American television legal drama. But its profile just skyrocketed with a grand jury deciding not to indict policeman Darren Wilson…
Plea bargaining in our criminal justice system receives far more negative than positive attention.
AAP/Dave Hunt
Plea bargaining consistently attracts more attention than almost any other aspect of the criminal justice system. Recently, it has received more attention than usual after US District Court judge Jed Rakoff…
Kicking foreign prisoners out isn’t – and shouldn’t be – easy.
Yorkshire Police
Once upon a time, you could tell an election was just around the corner when politicians of all kinds started talking relentlessly about crime. “Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime” was Tony Blair’s…
A Welcome to Country ceremony opens Darwin’s new $500 million facility last month to house rising numbers of prisoners, 85% of whom are Indigenous, a grossly overrepresented group.
AAP/Neda Vanovac
A number of reports, most recently Victorian and NSW crime statistics, show crime rates are falling. But as election time looms in these states, their governments’ focus on tough law-and-order policies…