Dr Manhattan Edit: There were practical problems with the breadth of the original legislation, and it has no undergone a nip-and-tuck in the Justice Legislation Further Amendment Bill 2010. The Explanatory Memo to this omnibus legislation can be found here.Last year in Going Digital my colleague discussed what is now the Justice Legislation Miscellaneous Amendments …
Continue reading Providing police recordings allowed or not?
Australian law is still not entirely certain if a Court can review the grounds for the issue of a search warrant.In Victoria, magistrates issue the bulk of search warrants under s 75 of the Magistrates' Court Act 1989.It's pretty settled now that a magistrate or justice's decision to issue a search warrant is an administrative, …
Continue reading Charter restrictions on validity of search warrants?
DPP (Cth) v D'Alessandro [2010] VSCA 60 considered the appropriate penalty for a person convicted in Victoria under the Commonwealth Criminal Code of possessing what the sentencing judge described as the "very worst" of child pornography.The respondent had been sentenced to a total effective sentence of 2 years imprisonment, but released immediately on a recognisance. …
Continue reading DPP (Cth) v D'Alessandro: child pornography sentencing principles
DPP (Cth) v D'Alessandro [2010] VSCA 60 considered the appropriate penalty for a person convicted in Victoria under the Commonwealth Criminal Code of possessing what the sentencing judge described as the "very worst" of child pornography.The respondent had been sentenced to a total effective sentence of 2 years imprisonment, but released immediately on a recognisance. …
Continue reading DPP (Cth) v D’Alessandro: child pornography sentencing principles
Edit: As Jeremy points out below, the Court of Appeal considered the meaning of unavailable for the first time in R v Darmody [2010] VSCA 41, discussed here. Though not specifically considering the (g) provision, the Court did outline some considerations to be taken into account, describing it as 'a balancing act'.Section 65 of the …