Edit: For a recent example of an appellate court taking a grim view of a practitioner's failure to uphold their obligations, see the civil case of Baulch v Lyndoch Warnambool [2010] VSCA 30.AJA Byrne didn't mince words [at 23]:The conduct of defence counsel in this instance is to be condemned. It was not an inadvertent …
Tag: law reform
Crime tax
The Offender Levy takes effect in Queensland from today.Apart from a number of specified exceptions (like Commonwealth offences, and breaches of bail and suspended sentences) all adult offenders in that state will now be obliged to pay an additional amount, separate from their sentence and enforced by the State Penalties Enforcement Registry (effectively, the sheriff). …
Legislation Watch: Criminal Procedure and Sentencing Acts Amendment (Victims of Crime) Bill 2012
This Bill makes a couple of minor changes to sentencing procedure. The Second Reading Speech is here, the Explanatory Memorandum is here. Unless proclaimed earlier, it has an automatic commencement date of 31st January 2013.Clause 4, an amendment to s 60 of the Criminal Procedure Act 2009 which purports to give the Magistrates' Court authority …
Committals — raising the bar
So Victorian Attorney-General Robert Clark is considering abolishing committal hearings. At the very least, significant legislative reform is likely to avert what he calls the “unnecessary examination of cases” at committal.What might those reforms look like? Victoria's chief magistrate Ian Gray has some interesting suggestions, which he outlined in my recent interview with him for The …
Committals to go?
The issue of abolishing committals is back in the spotlight again. The proposal seems to have come around every few years for the past two decades, like Batman films.The Australian Institute of Criminology ran a conference on committals back in 1990. It's interesting to read the papers, because the arguments for and against appear similar …