CrimNet

06 February 2024

2024 Paul Byrne Memorial Lecture: The Rule of Law in Modern Australia Delivered by The Honourable Chief Justice Lucy McCallum

Date: 28 February 2024

Time: 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM 

Venue: Level 2, Law Foyer, New Law Building 

The 2023 Paul Byrne SC Memorial Lecture, hosted by the Sydney Institute of Criminology, will be presented by Chief Justice Lucy McCallum, on the topic ‘The Rule of Law in Modern Australia’.

About the speaker

Chief Justice Lucy McCallum graduated with a BA/LLB from the University of New South Wales in 1986, majoring in philosophy. She commenced her legal career as a commercial litigation solicitor at Mallesons Stephen Jaques in Sydney before moving to Canberra to take up a position as a prosecutor in 1988. In 1990, her Honour joined the Queensland DPP as a trial advocate. She returned to Sydney in 1991 to become a barrister, taking silk in 2005. In 2008, her Honour was appointed as a judge of the  Supreme Court of New South Wales in the Common Law Division. In 2016, Chief Justice McCallum was appointed Chair of the NSW Judicial Commission Ngara Yura Committee, which works to educate judicial officers on matters relating to contemporary socio-cultural issues that have an impact on Aboriginal people in the justice system. In February 2019, she was elevated to the  New South Wales Court of Appeal. Her Honour was sworn in as Chief Justice of the Australian Capital Territory on 8 March 2022. Her personal interests include a range of outdoor adventure sports as well as cooking, music and reading.

Corruption, Criminal Law, and China: Offering and Accepting Bribes

Date & Time: 20 February 2024; 5:00 PM-6:00 PM

Venue: Common Room, Level 4, Sydney Law School

CPD Points: 1

The XII Amendment to Criminal Law of P.R.C adopted by the Standing Committee of People’s Congress on 29 December 2023 is guided by two principles. One is to enhance protection for private enterprises and the other is to punish offering bribes and accepting bribes equally. The reason that accepting bribes, which has been punished ever since the foundation of P.R.C, is stressed now is of course the serious situation of bribery. Meanwhile, although the logic behind this is acceptable, whether legislative purpose can be realized to a high degree depends on judicial efforts.

Judging from typical cases and relative statistics, I believe four principles should be observed in terms of criminal law. In the first place, different approaches should be taken to deal with offering bribes committed by organizations and individuals. Compliance model might be a choice. Secondly, crime and civil or administrative violation should be carefully differentiated to prevent criminal punishments from leading to undue harms. Thirdly, the question whether public authorities can be charged with offering or accepting bribes should be answered in specific context. Finally, more flexible systems, such as disqualification and corporate probation, should be considered.

Speaker: Professor Zhenjie Zhou, Vice Dean, Beijing Normal University School of Law, China

Commentator: Judy Zhou, Consulting Solicitor of Taylor Rose Australia. 

Chair: Associate Professor Jie (Jeanne) Huang, Sydney Law School.

This event is proudly co-presented by the Centre for Asian and Pacific Law and the Sydney Institute of Criminology at the University of Sydney Law School.

Business Compliance in International Commercial Transactions across Asia Pacific

Date & Time: 21 February 2024, All Day 

Venue: F10 New Law Building, Sydney Law School

The year 2024 marks the thirtieth anniversary of the Shanghai Winter School program, offered by the University of Sydney Law School in collaboration with the East China University of Political Science and Law. To celebrate this milestone, the Sydney Law School will proudly host an academic conference titled ‘Business Compliance in International Commercial Transactions in Asia Pacific’ on Wednesday, February 21, 2024.

Business compliance in international transactions across the Asia-Pacific region holds immense importance for organizations seeking to expand their activities within this dynamic and evolving landscape. Multinational corporations operating in Asia Pacific often confront unique compliance challenges due to the swiftly changing regulatory and geopolitical environment in the region.

The event will take place at the Camperdown campus of the University of Sydney Law School in Sydney, Australia, on Wednesday February 21, 2024. The primary language of the conference will be English.

We will also be holding a celebration of the 30th Anniversary of the Shanghai Winter School program after the conference. You will need to register separately for this event. Please find further details here.

Policing Welfare Fraud: The Government of Welfare Fraud and Non-Compliance

Institute member, Scarlet Wilcock published a book titled, 'Policing Welfare Fraud: The Government of Welfare Fraud and Non-Compliance'. 

Policing Welfare Fraud charts and interrogates the suite of measures ostensibly designed to combat welfare fraud and non-compliance. In Australia, which serves as the empirical focus of this book, these strategies include stringent ID checks, pre-emptive data surveillance technologies including the infamous and illegal ‘robodebt’ programme, a dedicated fraud hotline and an ‘intelligence-led’ fraud investigation framework. 

Read here. 

Queers in Conversation

NSW Council for Civil Liberties & Australian Lawyers for Human Rights 

27 February 2024; 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM 

Burdekin Hotel, 2 Oxford St, Darlinghurst, NSW 2010

Institute Member and President of NSW Council Civil liberties, Mr Josh Pallas has organised a panel discussion on protest, policing and Mardi Gras. 

Given changes to the relationship between Mardi Gras and police and the violence that we've seen affecting the queer community recently, this panel discussion will bring together activists, advocacy and legal queers and allies to share in some queer joy and hope during the Mardi Gras festivities. Institute Member, Dr Louise Boon-Kuo will be one of the panel speakers.

Institute member, Associate Professor Garner Clancey was interviewed for a podcast titled, 'From troubled pasts to a brighter, fitter future'. Listen here. 

Associate Professor Garner Clancey was also quoted in the article, ''Rock bottom redemption': The gym where you'll be trained by ex-prisoners'. Read here. 

Dr. Allan McCay is the Deputy Director of The Sydney Institute of Criminology and an academic Fellow at the University of Sydney's Law School.

He is a member of the Management Committee of the Julius Stone Institute of Jurisprudence at the University of Sydney and also an Affiliate Member of the Centre for Agency, Values, and Ethics, at Macquarie University.

In connection to his work on  neurotechnology, criminal law and human rights, he has been named as one of the most influential lawyers of 2021 by Australasian Lawyer. He is also a member of the  Minding Rights Network which is an international group of scholars who are working on addressing the challenges to autonomy, mental privacy and mental integrity coming from emerging technologies.

The FAIR - The Festival of AI + Robotics 

18-19 March 2024

Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre

Dr Allan McCay has been invited to speak at The FAIR - The Festival of AI + Robotics. The FAIR will open the door to collaborating on critical and
innovative technology solutions and ideas to solve today’s major issues
and challenges. 

For more information, see here. 

Dr Allan McCay has been quoted in an article titled, ' Musk’s Neuralink implants brain chip in its first human subject'.

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 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.

Conference: Applied Research in Crime and Justice; Griffith Criminology Institute 

Conference Date: 1-2 July 2024

Venue: Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre

Griffith Criminology Institute, in partnership with the New South Wales Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR), is pleased to invite you to the Applied Research in Crime and Justice Conference. The conference will be held on 1 – 2 July 2024 at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre.

The conference showcases practical, policy-relevant research with a direct bearing on effective criminal justice administration and crime prevention. The event serves as a platform for bringing together policymakers, academics and influential stakeholders from public, private, and university sectors.

For more information, see here. 

The development and future of domestic violence death reviews worldwide; UNSW Centre for Criminology, Law and Justice

Date & Time: 9 February 2024; 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM

Venue: Online

Domestic Violence Death Reviews (DVDRs) currently operate in a number of countries worldwide. Established in response to concerns about high rates of domestic violence fatalities, these bodies retrospectively examine the circumstances of domestic violence-related deaths, with the aim of improving system responses to domestic violence in particular localities or jurisdictions.

In this presentation, leading US expert Professor Neil Websdale examines the development and future of domestic violence death reviews worldwide.

This hybrid presentation hosted by the UNSW School of Law, Society and Criminology will take place in person at the UNSW Law & Justice Building (Law G02, Level G) and online via Zoom.

For more information, see here. 

Lecturer in Criminology 

Deakin University Criminology 

Application Deadline: 7 February 2024

The Lecturer in Criminology will initiate, design and conduct productive, high-quality research, scholarship and creative activities generating high impact outputs in their discipline area. 

The Lecturer may lead and research activities and is expected to engage collaboratively to develop novel research outcomes.

For more information, see here. 

Call for Abstracts: Strengthening Connections: The Power of Relationships and Strong Service Partnerships

16th April – 18th April 2024

In collaboration with the Department of Justice and Community Safety Victoria, the Australasian Youth Justice Administrators (AYJA) are partnering with the Centre for Forensic Behavioural Science at Swinburne University of Technology to deliver the 5th Australasian Youth Justice Conference. 

The conference is a three-day event of presentations, keynote addresses, Q & A, and panel discussions. The overrepresentation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, and Māori young people will be a critical focus of the conference, and responsive and holistic approaches to address overrepresentation issues will be threaded throughout the conference program.

For more information, see here. 

Australian Institute of Criminology

Based on an online panel survey of 13,302 adults, this study examines the common demographic characteristics of those who have intentionally viewed child sexual abuse material (CSAM) in the past year.

Overall, 0.8 percent of those surveyed reported they had intentionally viewed CSAM in the past year. This is somewhat lower than previous estimates, which have ranged from 2.2 to 4.6 percent.

Further analysis based on logistic regression and predicted probabilities identified four key demographic factors associated with CSAM consumption. Survey respondents who were aged 18–34 years (predicted probability of 1.2%), were living with disability (predicted probability of 1.5%) were currently serving or had previously served in the military (1.9%), or spoke a language other than English at home (predicted probability of 2.0%) were more likely than others to have intentionally viewed CSAM.

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