Following on from yesterday’s post, it’s worth asking: what are the vital aspects of a court?It’s a question that lawyers and academics have devoted volumes to, but for the purposes of this discussion I’d like to focus on:• An independent, disinterested decision-maker; and• A somewhat predictable, rules-based approach to decision-making.When it comes to who will …
Tag: procedural fairness
Making the punishment fit the crime
Duplicity occurs where one charge alleges more than one offence. Double punishment occurs where two (or more) offences describe the same act. Both are errors in legal drafting that can result from trying to apply neat legal theory to untidy real life events.Since duplicity and this particular sub-set of double jeopardy involve matters of fact …
Legislation Watch: Criminal Procedure Amendment (Double Jeopardy and Other Matters) Bill 2011
The Criminal Procedure Amendment (Double Jeopardy and Other Matters) Bill 2011 had its second reading last Wednesday. The speech is here. The Bill itself is here and its Explanatory Memorandum is here.Double jeopardyThe most attention-getting aspect of the Bill is the proposal to reform double jeopardy. That's the kind that arises from being presented for …
Sentencing not to deter claims of innocence
In R v Kumar [2011] NSWCCA 139 the New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal allowed Rajendra Kumar's appeal application. The applicant was found guilty of accessing and possessing child pornography, receiving 5 years jail with a 3 year non-parole period for accessing child pornography, and 3 years jail with a 2 year non-parole period …
Continue reading Sentencing not to deter claims of innocence
DPP v Kypri [2011] VSCA 257: charges ‘ineffective’, but not nullities, for failing to name the sub-section
The decision of DPP v Kypri [2011] VSCA 257 was handed down this morning. We discussed the case here, here and here. For those unfamiliar with it, the argument (successful at the original hearing, again on appeal to the Supreme Court, but not on this most recent appeal to the Court of Appeal) was that …