CrimNet

2 October 2024

Current Issues in Criminal Justice (CICJ) provides detailed analysis of national and international issues by a range of outstanding contributors. It includes contemporary comments, with discussion at the cutting edge of the crime and justice debate, as well as reviews of recently released books.

CICJ accepts submissions on a rolling basis.

Editor: Professor Colin King, member of the Sydney Institute of Criminology

You can access current (Volume 36 (3), 2024) and previous issues of Current Issues in Criminal Justice here.

If you have a book suitable for review by CICJ, please email the books editor, Celine Van Golde at celine.vangolde@sydney.edu.au 

For more updates, follow CICJ on X here.

In-person event

Much ink has been spilled over what the proper aims of sentencing should be, and it seems that different aims have become more or less prominent over time. The rehabilitative aim gave way to more retributive approaches in the 1970s in many countries and perhaps to approaches with more focus on dangerousness in recent times. But how well are the aims of sentencing realised in practice?

This Beyond Punishment Seminar will consider how the aims of sentencing as contained in the law matches up with reality of actual criminal justice practices. So, does rehabilitation really have a significant place in current approaches to criminal sanctions? How is this impacted by issues of funding or discretion? Is the reality of the response to offending largely punitive and how much does it reduce the capacity to reoffend? Do the sentences imposed by the courts or the experiences of sanction really deter? If there is discrepancy between stated aims and the practice how should this discrepancy be addressed, and which parts of the discrepancy are most troubling?

This seminar will address these and other questions.

Panellists

The Honourable Justice Yehia was appointed to the Supreme Court in June 2022 having served as a District Court Judge for 8 years. In addition to her service as a judge of the District and Supreme Courts, her Honour holds a number of positions including Board member and previous Chair of Diverse Women in Law, Board member of the AIJA, Chair of the Ngara Yura Committee and member of the Bugmy Bar Book Committee. Her Honour is also a member of the Judicial Commission’s Sentencing Bench Book Committee and became an Adjunct Professor at the UNSW Law School in 2023, where she teaches an advanced course on sentencing law.

Jennifer Galouzis is the Assistant Commissioner of Strategy & Policy, Corrective Services NSW. Currently in the final year of her PhD at the University of Melbourne, her research focuses on "A rehabilitative prison environment: Accountability, complexity and the possibility of therapeutic prisons." With over 20 years of experience in prison and correctional research, Jennifer’s work encompasses the ecology of prison environments, the social and cultural climate of prisons, and the measurement of prison performance. She has published in the areas of rehabilitative design, preventing prison violence, sex offender treatment, and the role of corrective services in reducing reoffending

The Honourable Geoffrey Bellew SC was appointed Senior Counsel in 2006 and in 2011 he was appointed a Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales. He served continually as a Judge of the Common Law Division until February 2023. Upon his retirement Mr Bellew was appointed by the Attorney-General as the Chairperson of the State Parole Authority. He is the author of a number of texts published by Lexis Nexis, including Uniform Evidence Law, Principles and Context, a substantive text on the law of evidence. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Law, a member of the Law Advisory Board, and a sessional lecturer, at Notre Dame University, Sydney.

Dr Mindy Sotiri is Executive Director, Justice Reform Initiative and has worked in criminal justice system settings as an advocate, community sector practitioner, academic, and researcher for more than twenty-five years. During this time, much of her work has been focused on advocacy around decarceration and building sustainable community-based and community led pathways outside of prison settings. Mindy completed her PhD in 2003 (looking at the purpose of imprisonment in NSW); completed a Churchill Fellowship in 2016 (looking at evidence based community led re-entry and post-release programs) and is a senior visiting fellow at UNSW.

Chair

Dr Allan McCay is Co-director of the Sydney Institute of Criminology and an Academic Fellow at the University of Sydney's Law School. He coordinates the Legal Research units at the Sydney Law School, and lectures in Criminal Law. Much of his work as focused on neuroscience, neurotechnology, and the criminal law. He is also interested in free will and punishment, ethical issues related to emerging neurotechnologies, and the future of legal work. His first coedited book Free Will and the Law: New Perspectives is published by Routledge (2019) and his second, Neurointerventions and the Law: Regulating Human Mental Capacity is published by Oxford University Press (2020).

Tuesday 8 October 2024

Time: 6-8pm

Venue: Sydney Law School, Law Foyer, Level 2, New Law Building (F10), University of Sydney, Camperdown campus

CPD Points = 2 points

Please register here.

In-person event

Financial crime poses many challenges and affects a multitude of sectors, in Australia and globally. As offenders become more sophisticated, new vulnerabilities emerge, and law enforcement has to adapt. While the criminal justice responses have been swift and emphatic in some sectors, they have been cumbersome and lethargic in others. Variations in criminalisation and enforcement can also be discerned geographically with many law-making initiatives originating in the EU rather than other parts of the world.

Against this context, this symposium will examine different aspects of, and global perspectives on, financial crime, namely 1) policing welfare fraud; 2) cultural property crime; 3) federal proceeds of crime; and 4) civil recovery of criminal property.

Speakers

Against this context, this symposium will examine different aspects of, and global perspectives on, financial crime, namely 1) policing welfare fraud; 2) cultural property crime; 3) federal proceeds of crime; and 4) civil recovery of criminal property. This event brings together experts from the Sydney Institute of Criminology who have recently published books on these fascinating contexts of financial crime:

Dr Scarlet Wilcock - Policing Welfare Fraud | The Government of Welfare Fraud and Non-Compl (taylorfrancis.com)

Prof. Saskia Hufnagel - Cultural Property Crime and the Law: Legal Approaches to Protection, R (routledge.com) & Global Perspectives on Cultural Property Crime - 1st Edition - Michell (routledge.com)

Prof. Simon Bronitt - Federal Proceeds of Crime Law – Thomson Reuters Australia

Prof. Colin King - Civil Recovery of Criminal Property - Colin King, Jennifer Hendry - Oxford University Press (oup.com)

Wednesday 23 October 2024

Time: 5-7pm

Venue: Sydney Law School, Law Lounge, Level 1, New Law Building Annexe(F10A), University of Sydney, Camperdown campus

CPD Points = 2 points

Register here.

A roundtable discussion featuring Professor David Heilpern (Dean of Law, Southern Cross University, and former NSW Magistrate), Professor Julia Quilter (School of Law, University of Wollongong), Associate Professor Helen Gibbon (CCLJ and School of Law, Society and Criminology, UNSW Law and Justice) and Dr Kev Dertadian (CCLJ and School of Law, Society and Criminology, UNSW Law and Justice).

Chair: Professor Luke McNamara (CCLJ and School of Law, Society and Criminology, UNSW Law and Justice).

This roundtable will provide an opportunity for attendees to be in conversation with invited panellists about the content, interpretation and enforcement of ‘drug driving’ laws in Australia, and the broader drug law reform context. Discussion topics will include:

How offences like s 111(1) of the Road Transport Act 2013 (NSW) are different from impairment-based ‘drink driving’ offences, and the potential this creates for unfairness;

Police enforcement practices in relation to roadside Mobile Drug Testing (MDT);

Implications of the recent decision of the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal in Narouz [2024] NSWCCA 14 which held that s 111(1) is an “absolute liability” offence;

Priorities for drug law reform, within and beyond the road safety context, including opportunities created by the upcoming NSW Drug Summit 2024.

Wednesday 30 October 2024

Time: 12pm-1pm

Common Room, Level 2, Law and Justice Building, UNSW Sydney

Register here.

We are pleased to invite you to a special webinar to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the ICPC. This online event will take place on Tuesday October 8, 2024, from 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM EDT. It will be a unique opportunity to reflect on past achievements, explore current challenges and plan for the future of crime prevention and reduction for the organization. In the presence of former partners and international collaborators who have contributed to the ICPC's successful mission over time, this webinar will include:

A review of key achievements and crucial moments
• Presentation of the various significant achievements that have marked the history of the ICPC since its creation.

Experience-sharing
• Presentations by collaborators who have contributed to some of the ICPC's initiatives.

Reflection on future challenges and presentation of upcoming projects
• Analysis of future challenges based on the organization's strategic priorities for the coming years, and presentation of future projects.

Join us in this celebration to learn from enriching discussions with leading practitioners in crime prevention and reduction.

Register here until October 7.

Join the International Corrections and Prisons Association (ICPA) and the Thailand Institute of Justice (TIJ) as we commemorate the 15th anniversary of the Bangkok Rules in 2025. We offer an opportunity to celebrate progress, assess implementation, and identify areas for further improvement.

The call for papers for Women in Corrections Conference 2025 is currently open. When submitting the abstract, please specify the theme and type of session. The call for papers will close on 31 October 2024. 

The Programme Committee encourages presentations from a diverse range of individuals who can contribute to the Women in Corrections Conference (WICC) agenda, including: 

•Individuals with lived experience 

•Academics 

•Government and public sector agencies

•NGOs and other International Agencies

ICPA and TIJ invite attendees from across the corrections landscape, both women and men, to contribute to this important conference. Attendees will include correctional leaders, correctional practitioners, academics, individuals with lived experience, and members of correctional-affiliated organizations.

Important dates:

30 August - 31 October 2024: Call for papers is open

15 November 2024: First round of acceptances

29 November 2024: Second round of acceptances and wait list

20 December 2024: Program finalised

Should you need additional information, please email at: contacticpa@icpa.org.

For more information on the themes visit here.

Read here.

This study uses 34 years of data from the National Homicide Monitoring Program to describe the prevalence and characteristics of homicide of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women.

Between 1 July 1989 and 30 June 2023, 476 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women were the victim of a homicide. Indigenous women experienced a homicide victimisation rate up to seven times the national average. Ninety-six percent (n=455) of the 473 homicide incidents involving an Indigenous woman were cleared by police. Almost all victims from cleared incidents were killed by someone they knew (97%, n=446), most by an Indigenous male intimate partner (66%, n=301).

Findings highlight the over-representation of Indigenous women as victims of homicide in Australia and provide baseline data to measure Closing the Gap targets to reduce homicide and other violent victimisation among these women.

Read here.

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