Every now and again, a story turns up in the media you just couldn’t make up, no matter how hard you tried. This one involves an Illawarra woman who allegedly stole the prosecutor’s handbag from Wollongong District Courthouse, in full view of CCTV, only moments after she conducted an ‘award winning performance’ to convince the… Read more »
National Legal Aid Chair Suzan Cox QC believes new domestic violence figures highlight the importance of a strong legal aid service to help those unable to afford private legal representation, especially in family law cases. “The data shows that underfunded legal aid commissions are confronting high numbers of disintegrating low-income families who are wrestling with… Read more »
A man in the United States city of Liberty, Ohio has received an unusual punishment for attempting to steal a 52 inch television. Greg Davenport pleaded ‘no contest’ to the charge and was given the option between thirty days in prison and walking ten 8-hour days with a sign that says, “I am a thief-… Read more »
By Andrew Knezevic The ability to peacefully protest is a democratic freedom that has been enjoyed by Australians for many decades, historically protected by the common law. However, an announcement last month by NSW Premier Mike Baird means the right to protest is severely under threat. Civil libertarian groups are especially concerned about the ability to… Read more »
By Sonia Hickey The statistics paint a horribly bleak picture: One woman is killed by her partner every week in Australia. According to figures published by Destroy the Joint’s Counting Dead Women Initiative, 16 women have already died this year as a result of family violence. In 2015, a staggering 79 women were killed at… Read more »
As the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse continues, several proposals for protecting children against future abuse have already been discussed, including changes in how the law treats complaints made years or decades after an alleged sexual assault. This blog looks at the criminal justice system’s treatment of delayed complaint, and whether… Read more »
A lab technician working at a New Jersey State Police drug testing unit has been caught fabricating DNA test results, which has cast a shadow over the reliability of 8,000 criminal convictions. Mr Kamalkant Shah was discovered to have recorded results about a suspected marijuana sample before it was analysed, a technique known as ‘dry-labbing’…. Read more »
If a person under the age of 18 is guilty of a criminal offence in NSW, there are a range of different penalties that can apply. For children, there is a greater emphasis on the need for rehabilitation – and greater scope for matters to be dealt with outside the courtroom altogether. Although there are… Read more »
New South Wales District Court judge Clive Jeffreys made headlines recently, criticised for being too lenient. One newspaper’s headline read “Judged Inadequate” while another’s said “Fails of Justice”. Judge Jeffreys, appointed to the bench in 2011, has faced attacks not only from the media, but also from a Senior NSW Government MP. Andrew Constance, the… Read more »
In the 1980s, Jennifer Thompson survived a brutal rape. She had studied her attacker’s face very carefully so she would be able to seek justice if she survived the ordeal. Her honest and detailed eyewitness evidence helped to convict and imprison Ronald Cotton for rape and burglary. Mr Cotton served ten and a half years of… Read more »
