Sydney Institute of Criminology
CrimNet
21 October 2022
|
|
|
|
The CrimNet newsletter is sponsored by the Sydney Institute of Criminology. CrimNet provides regular communication between criminal justice professionals, practitioners, academics and students in Australia and overseas. Share CrimNet with your peers and help grow the network.
The University of Sydney’s central campus sits on the lands of the Cadigal people of the Eora nation and has campuses as well as teaching and research facilities situated on the ancestral lands of the Wangal, Deerubbin, Tharawal, Ngunnawal, Wiradjuri, Gamilaroi, Bundjulong, Wiljali and Gereng Gureng peoples. We pay our respects to elders, past, present, and emerging who have cared and continue to care for Country.
CULTURAL ADVICE: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are advised that CrimNet may contain distressing material and images or names of people who have died.
| |
If you are not already subscribed and would like to receive these fortnightly updates, please follow the link here or email law.criminology@sydney.edu.au.
If you would like to contribute a relevant piece, or post news and opportunities of interest to our audiences, please contact law.criminology@sydney.edu.au.
| |
|
Institute Events and Activities
| |
Theoretical Advances and Problems in the Sociology of Punishment
Professor David Garland (New York University)
This seminar, delivered by Sydney Law School visiting Fellow, Professor David Garland (New York University) explores the theoretical advances and problems in the sociology of punishment.
The last twenty years have seen a remarkable increase in “punishment and society” scholarship. Together with this quantitative expansion, there have also been important qualitative developments in research, analysis and explanation – many of which can be counted as scientific advances.
In this talk, Professor Garland will describe a number of dimensions along which theory, method and data in this field have been improved and also identify a number of continuing challenges and problems. Examples from the American literature on the emergence of mass incarceration and the nature of the ‘war on drugs’ are used to indicate the range of theoretical resources that scholars in this field have developed and to point to empirical and theoretical questions that remain to be resolved.
About the speaker
David Garland is Arthur T Vanderbilt Professor of Law and Professor of Sociology at New York University. His distinguished body of work includes Punishment and Welfare: A History of Penal Strategies; Punishment and Modern Society: A Study in Social Theory ; The Culture of Control: Crime and Social Order in Contemporary Society ; Peculiar Institution: America’s Death Penalty in an Age of Abolition ; and The Welfare State: A Very Short Introduction.
His many honours include membership of the British Academy, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and receipt of the American Society of Criminology’s Edwin H. Sutherland Prize for outstanding contributions to theory and research.
He is currently at work on a book entitled Roots of Injustice: The Structural Sources of America’s Penal State. He is a Visiting Fellow at University of Sydney School of Law in October/November 2022.
Date: Tuesday 1 November
Time: 6-7.30 pm, followed by a cocktail reception
In Person event
CPD points = 1.5
| |
|
2022/23 Criminal Law CPD Series
September 2022 - March 2023
The 2022-23 Criminal Law CPD series, presented by the Sydney Institute of Criminology is an innovative educational program made up of 7 recorded webinars delivered by eminent speakers from the University of Sydney and the legal profession.
A new webinar will be released each month from September 2022 - March 2023. Quizzes will be included to test your comprehension of the material being discussed.
Register now for the full series or individual webinars and enjoy the flexibility of watching at your own pace from any location at any time.
Information for lawyers and barristers
If this educational activity is relevant to your professional development and practice of the law, then you should claim 1.5 MCLE/CPD points per seminar attended.
Practitioners are advised to check with the CPD governing body in their jurisdiction for the most accurate and up-to-date information. Find out about interstate accreditation. Cost: Full series (7 x webinars) = $300
Individual webinar(s) = $50
| |
29 September 2022 | Dr Andrew Dyer
It is common for people to deceive other people into engaging in sexual activity with them. But there is sharp division about whether all such deceitful people should be convicted of a sexual offence and, if all or some of them should, which offence(s) should be convicted of.
| |
20 October 2022 | Brett Hatfield
In a system subject to growing case numbers, increasingly regulated pre-trial processes, plea negotiations, and broad discretion, how are those priorities managed? Crown Prosecutor Brett Hatfield will consider those competing priorities and how they are balanced in practice.
| |
24 November 2022 | Associate Professor Helen Paterson
Eyewitness testimony can provide critical leads in investigations and can be extremely persuasive in court. However, inconsistencies or inaccuracies in eyewitness accounts can undermine the perceived credibility of the witness and the value of the evidence.
| |
15 December 2022 | Talitha Hennessy
During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, the administration of justice and essential services of courts continued through the increased use of communication technologies. The shift to digital or virtual justice in both civil and criminal jurisdictions accelerated with varying degrees of success.
| |
19 January 2023 | Professor David Hamer
Following the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, Uniform Evidence Law jurisdictions are implementing reforms to the tendency and coincidence evidence provisions. These reforms aim to relax the exclusionary rules so that the prosecution can more readily rely upon other allegations against the defendant and the defendant’s prior guilty pleas.
| |
9 February 2023 | John Stratton SC
Appearing in the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal can be an intimidating prospect. Seeking leave, applications brought out of time, questions of law, questions of fact, mixed questions: senior criminal law barrister John Stratton SC will consider these issues and offer best-practice tips developed over the course of his career.
| |
9 March 2023 | Judge Paul Lakatos SC
Balancing the competing priorities of offenders with mental health diagnoses, the community, and the criminal justice system more broadly, is complicated. At the intersection of those interests sits the Mental Health Review Tribunal. The Tribunal endeavours to acknowledge and respect the dignity, autonomy, diversity and individuality of those whose matters it hears and determines. But how are these outcomes achieved?
| |
Youth Crime and Youth Justice Forum
The Forum will bring together key stakeholders working to prevent youth crime and to administer the various aspects of youth justice. Presenters will discuss latest trends, research and policies in these areas and will showcase some of the relevant work across the University of Sydney.
Date: Thursday 24 November 2022
Time: 9.30am-3pm (tbc)
Location: The University of Sydney, Camperdown.
Cost: Free
| |
Current Issues in Criminal Justice, Volume 34, Issue 3 (2022)
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.
You can access current and previous issues of Current Issues in Criminal Justice here.
| |
What happens on the ice, stays on the ice: transgression and layered silence in Antarctica
Rebecca Kaiser & Rob White
Abstract: This article explores the nature of transgression in Antarctica, an isolated and extreme environment. Drawing upon interviews with Antarctic expeditioners, the paper examines harms and crimes of Australian Antarctic bases, some of which are unique to this physical and social environment. The article then considers how and why there is greater tolerance of ‘deviant’ behaviour in this setting and the layers of ‘silence’ that accompany various transgressions. This is interpreted through the conceptual lens of folk crime. Living and working in Antarctica, where everyone is dependent upon the same community, means that the contours of transgression, tolerance and silence by expeditioners is shaped by its unusual context and circumstance.
| |
Inspections, reviews, inquiries and recommendations pertaining to youth justice centres in New South Wales between 2015 and 2021
Garner Clancey & Laura Metcalfe
Abstract: It is widely recognised that there is a lack of analysis of criminal justice policy-making (and youth justice policy-making specifically) within the wider criminological project. To partially address the gap, this article focuses on one part of the dynamic and complex policy-making environment—reviews, inquiries and findings of oversight bodies between 2015 and 2021 relevant to youth detention in New South Wales (NSW). We estimate that the reports arising from these inquiries and reviews have generated approximately 1040 recommendations (approximately 590 relevant to Youth Justice NSW (YJNSW) broadly and 284 relevant to youth justice centres more specifically). The sheer volume of recommendations, some of which are very broad, raises questions about the ability of an agency, such as YJNSW, to implement them; about which recommendations might be prioritised; and how YJNSW might resolve conflicts between recommendations arising from different and often parallel processes. We suggest that, for the purposes of achieving the best outcomes for young people in custody, there might be greater merit in having fewer inquiries that deal with parts of youth detention and a coordinated and prioritised response to recommendations to address issues of youth detention.
| |
Sexual victimisation histories and rehabilitation in female prisoners: a Tasmanian case study
Freya Devos & Victoria Nag
Abstract: The Tasmanian female prison population has increased by 57% since 2000. Sexual victimisation is one of the most reported forms of victimisation among female prisoners in Australia. This article explores how seven Tasmanian correctional staff and program facilitators understand the relationship between sexual victimisation, offending and rehabilitation pathways and makes recommendations about how correctional systems can better manage practices that may re-victimise women. In doing so, the article provides the first analysis of how corrections workers and prison program practitioners working with incarcerated women in Tasmania understand the needs of their female clients. Findings demonstrate that prison and throughcare programs on offer in Tasmania do not consider the specific needs of women, especially women with histories of sexual victimisation.
| |
When ‘I did it’ is not enough: content analysis of remorse in sentencing remarks
Michael Proeve & Tazin Tanvir
Abstract: Offender remorse is recognised in many legal jurisdictions as a factor that leads to mitigation of sentence. However, judges’ practice with regard to findings of remorse has been the subject of limited scholarly inquiry. We coded 262 sentencing remarks from the higher courts in South Australia using content analysis, to examine the frequency in which judges mentioned various pieces of evidence for remorse, the sources of evidence used and aspects of sentencing in which remorse was mentioned. Judges discussed remorse most frequently in relation to total sentence length and less frequently in relation to non-parole periods. There were no particular sources of evidence that judges used more frequently in their findings about remorse. Guilty pleas were frequent in those cases in which judges found remorse to be present, but guilty pleas were infrequent in those cases in which judges found remorse to be absent or not under consideration. Accepting responsibility, seeking help in relation to offending and making apologies appeared to be influential in finding remorse to be present, and lack of guilty plea appeared influential in finding against remorse. In order for judges to find that a defendant is remorseful, it may be important for a defendant to plead guilty and to show additional indications of remorse.
| |
They’re all good cases: Paul Byrne SC Memorial Lecture 22 June 2022
The Honourable Justice Peter Hamil
Abstract: Paul Byrne SC is aptly described as one of the most outstanding criminal lawyers of his generation. Following his death in 2009, the Paul Byrne Memorial Lecture was established in 2011. Those lectures have been conducted by various highly distinguished lawyers on various topics of law. Justice Hamill delivered the tenth lecture on 22 June 2022 at the University of Sydney. In honour of Paul Byrne, and in the tenth year of the lectures being held, Paul Byrne himself was the topic of the lecture. Justice Hamill discusses the legal and non-legal lessons that can be learned from some of the most significant cases Paul appeared in, including in the High Court of Australia, the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal and various criminal trials, and the way in which Paul lived his life. This article is the revised version of Justice Hamill's lecture.
| |
Professor Murray Lee wins Best Peer Reviewed Publication Award
Congratulations to Sydney Law School academic and Sydney Institute of Criminology member, Professor Murray Lee, for being awarded the 2022 Best Peer Reviewed Publication Award by the American Society of Criminology Division of Cybercrime.
Murray won the award for his co-authored paper with Dr Cassandra Cross entitled 'Exploring Fear of Crime for Those Targeted by Romance Fraud'.
| |
Aboriginal over-representation in the NSW Criminal Justice System quarterly update June 2022
October 2022
Statistical Report AOR-Jun 2022
The over-representation of Aboriginal Australians in custody is a matter of long-standing and justified public concern. Latest figures indicate that the Aboriginal imprisonment rate in NSW is nearly 10 times the non-Aboriginal imprisonment rate (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2020). Given that Aboriginal offenders are substantially overrepresented in prison, one would expect that they are also substantially over-represented at other stages of the Criminal Justice System.
| |
Criminal justice reform puts NT on right track for safer communities
Justice Reform Initiative Media Release, 12 October 2022
The Justice Reform Initiative warmly welcomes the announcement by the Northern Territory Government today that it will repeal mandatory sentencing for certain offences and take steps to increase the age of criminal responsibility.
The Initiative – an alliance which includes former premiers and ministers from all sides of politics, as well as some of the country’s most preeminent judicial figures, former prosecutors, experts and Aboriginal leaders – believes this is a significant step towards reshaping the Territory’s criminal justice system to one built on the evidence of what works to build safer communities and to reduce the expensive overreliance on prisons.
Justice Reform Initiative Executive Director Dr Mindy Sotiri said the NT Government was to be commended for adopting a more evidence based approach to reducing crime and ending cycles of incarceration.
“This is an important step for the Northern Territory,” Dr Sotiri said. “We commend the Government for taking these first critical steps towards a criminal justice system that will help make the Territory a safer place to live with an approach based on what works to reduce crime.
“The evidence is clear - mandatory sentencing does not prevent crime. It is hugely expensive, it leads to unjust sentencing and has the biggest impact on the most vulnerable and disadvantaged people in our community, especially Aboriginal people.
“Raising the age of criminal responsibility is similarly an important step. Australia is well behind the rest of the world in incarcerating children as young as 10. There is overwhelming evidence that 14 is the minimum age, developmentally and neurologically, that children could or should be held criminally responsible.
“We will continue to advocate for 14 to be the minimum age but commend the Government for showing willingness to shift its position and move to 12 years old as a starting point for this important reform.”
The reforms follow a report recently released by the Justice Reform Initiative which showed imprisonment rates in the Northern Territory are one of the highest in the world and more than four times the Australian average. Almost one percent of the adult population in the Northern Territory is in prison at any point in time, and the proportion of children in prison is almost five times the national rate.
| |
A socio-ecological exploration of adolescent violence in the home and young people with disability: The perceptions of mothers and practitioners
An emerging body of research into adolescent violence in the home (AVITH) has signalled concerns about the disproportionate rates of young people with disability receiving family violence services and legal responses to violence at home (Campbell et al., 2020). However, research about AVITH has typically collapsed disability into binaries with children labelled as “disabled” or “not disabled”. Existing research often implies disability has a causal link to the use of violence and no attention is paid to the specific behaviours or the social and interactional context in which these behaviours arise.
This project aims to begin filling this evidence gap. The publication signals the project’s second and final report. It shares findings from exploratory qualitative research to generate new knowledge about the intersections between AVITH and young people with disability. The intention is to begin to lay the foundations for sustained and nuanced dialogue about the issues and experiences of young people with disability and AVITH.
The research team ran in-depth semi-structured interviews with mothers who had experienced AVITH and practitioners with direct experience working with young people with disability and AVITH. All participants were from metropolitan and regional areas of Victoria, Australia. Initial plans to speak with young people with disability themselves were reconsidered in response to Covid-19 lockdowns across Victoria. The research team acknowledges that the voices of young people remain missing from this field and will pursue avenues to centre their lived experiences in future research projects.
| |
‘Life and death:’ New coercive control legislation divides parliament
Lucy Cormack, ABC, 12 October 2022
NSW Attorney-General Mark Speakman says the state cannot afford to wait any longer to criminalise coercive control, insisting that swift passage of proposed new laws through parliament could mean the difference between life and death.
More than two-and-a-half years of consultation, a parliamentary inquiry and hundreds of public submissions have culminated in the legislation, which will be introduced to parliament this week and coupled with almost $5 million for education campaigns and police training.
Coercive control is a form of domestic abuse involving patterns of behaviour that can be physical, sexual, psychological, emotional or financial. Controlling what someone wears, limiting access to money, tracking their location and incessant texting all constitute the abusive behaviour, which is a red flag for intimate partner homicide.
Speakman will introduce legislation to outlaw the behaviour this week, adding it to the list of ambitious reform pieces the government hopes to pass in the five sitting weeks left in the year.
| |
|
NT government to introduce laws raising the age of criminal responsibility and reforming adult mandatory sentencing
Thomas Morgan, ABC, 13 Oct 2022
The Northern Territory will become the first jurisdiction in Australia to introduce legislation raising the age of criminal responsibility, which the government intends to lift from 10 to 12 years old.
It has also unveiled plans to change some controversial mandatory sentencing policies for adult offenders.
Key points:
- The NT government will introduce a bill to increase the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 12 years old
- The government had previously signed on as part of a meeting of state and territory Attorneys-General
- Mandatory sentencing will be curtailed in a separate bill to be introduced to parliament
Attorney-General Chansey Paech will today introduce legislation to parliament as part of a long-running national push to reduce the number of young people coming into contact with the criminal justice system.
The change still falls short of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child's recommendation of a minimum age of responsibility of 14 years old.
However, the move has been called a "watershed moment" by peak bodies representing the territory's legal, community services and Indigenous organisations.
NT government to introduce laws raising the age of criminal responsibility and reforming adult mandatory sentencing.
| |
ACT becomes first Australian jurisdiction to decriminalise illicit drugs in small quantities
AAP, The Guardian, 20 Oct 2022
The Australian Capital Territory has become the first Australian jurisdiction to decriminalise illicit drugs in small quantities.
Laws passed in the territory’s parliament on Thursday mean people found with small amounts of nine different types of illicit drugs will not be criminally prosecuted.
Instead they will be cautioned, fined or referred to a drug diversion program.
The substances decriminalised include heroin, cocaine and speed.
The ACT health minister, Rachel Stephen-Smith, said focusing on harm-minimisation rather than punishing drug users was the way forward.
| |
NSW using prisoners as political pawns, critics say, after state refuses to let UN inspectors into detention facility
Tamsin Rose and Eden Gillespie, The Guardian, 20 Oct 2022
The New South Wales premier, Dominic Perrottet, has hailed as a “great decision” the Queensland government’s move to limit United Nations inspectors from accessing the state’s inpatient units.
But critics say NSW is using prisoners as political “pawns” and both states should open their doors to allow inspectors full access under Australia’s commitment to the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (Opcat).
Inspectors from the UN subcommittee on prevention of torture arrived in Australia this week with plans to conduct surprise visits on state, territory and commonwealth detention facilities over 12 days. However, NSW has said it will refuse to grant them access.
| |
|
Publications
All open access unless indicated.
| |
Interviewing Vulnerable Suspects Safeguarding the Process
Routledge
Edited By Jane Tudor-Owen, Celine van Golde, Ray Bull, David Gee
Book Description: This book is an in-depth, evidence-based guide to interviewing suspects with specific vulnerabilities. It provides an overview of current research, practices, and legal considerations for interviewing vulnerable suspects, incorporating guidelines regarding the identification of vulnerabilities, engaging with third parties in the interview, and training and supervision. It then goes on to cover specific vulnerabilities typically encountered in suspect populations, providing clear summaries of current research, case studies, and practical guidance for conducting interviews with these populations to facilitate best practice in interviewing. Expertise is drawn from both law enforcement practice and academic research to ensure an evidence-based approach that is relevant for contemporary practice.
Interviewing Vulnerable Suspects offers the international policing audience a practical guide to interviewing vulnerable suspects for both uniform police and detectives. It is relevant for statutory bodies involved in investigations of misconduct; legal practitioners and forensic psychologists; practitioners in counselling, social work, and psychology; and students in policing, criminology, and forensic psychology programs.
| |
Death Penalty Politics: The Fragility of Abolition in Asia and the Pacific
International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy
Mark Finnnane, Mai Sato & Susan Trevaskes
Abstract: This special collection of articles on the death penalty and the politics of abolition in Asia and the Pacific is published to coincide with the centenary of one of the world’s earliest statutory abolitions, in the Australian state of Queensland, in August 1922. Scholars of the death penalty, its practice and its abolition were invited to participate in a symposium in May 2021 hosted in Melbourne by Eleos Justice at Monash University and the Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research at Griffith University. They were joined by lawyers and abolition advocates, including some who had worked on death row cases.
This collection seeks to bring perspectives from a variety of disciplines and methods—historical, legal, sociological, comparative—to bear on the questions of retention and abolition in a variety of jurisdictions and time periods. If there is one conclusion to these collective studies, it is the fragility of abolition. Abolition may now be widely embraced as a norm of international human rights law, but its establishment as a comprehensive and irrevocable fact remains elusive. The task of a research collection such as this is to understand why that may be as a guide to what might be pursued in the future regarding abolition.
| |
Attributions of aggressive behaviour in people with mild intellectual disabilities to borderline intellectual functioning in a secure forensic setting
The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology
Kim J. H. M. van den Bogaard & Petri J. C. M. Embregts
Abstract: Aggressive behaviour is often displayed by people with intellectual disabilities (ID) in forensic healthcare settings. Research on the causal beliefs (i.e. attributions) of aggressive behaviour are commonly studied from the perspective of support staff. As aggressive behaviour is mostly a product of interaction between the person showing it and their environment, it is valuable to include the perspective of people with ID as well. Four group interviews, consisting of a total of 20 people with mild ID or borderline intellectual functioning and forensic and/or psychiatric problems, were held to explore incidents of aggressive behaviour. The attributions were analysed using the Leeds Attributional Coding System. Clients almost equally distributed the causes of aggressive behaviour to themselves (intrapersonal domain; 48.0%) and to other persons (interpersonal domain; 45.7%). There is a distinction related to the attributions given between the client as agent (intrapersonal domain), being uncontrollable (72.1%) and global (68.9%), versus other persons as agent (interpersonal domain), being controllable (86.2%) and specific (56.9%). This analysis of attributions regarding aggressive behaviour given by clients resulted in information on causal beliefs of aggressive behaviour from the perspective of clients. Incorporating their views will possibly increase involvement and commitment in support and treatment.
| |
The adoption of a crime harm index: A scoping literature review
Police Practice and Research
Teun van Ruitenburg & Stijn Ruiter
Abstract: An emerging line of research explores how calculating the harm associated with different types of crime serves as a method to measure crime across times, places and people. A crime harm index (CHI) is suggested to produce a more reliable bottom line indicator of public safety and it would allow law enforcement agencies to invest their scarce resources in proportion to the harm caused by various types of crimes. This scoping literature review maps the literature on crime harm indices published after 2006 by answering the following research questions: (1) what is the rationale for a CHI, (2) what are the possible ways to operationalize a CHI; (3) how can a CHI be used in crime analysis; (4) what are the general outcomes of the studies using a CHI; (5) what are the known challenges and critiques of a CHI and (6) what research gaps related to CHI are expressed in this field of research?
| |
| Australian Institute of Criminology 2022 Conference
Please join us at the Australian Institute of Criminology’s 2022 Conference being held on Ngunnawal Country at the Hyatt Hotel Canberra from 31 October – 2 November. AIC 2022 will bring together policy-makers, practitioners and academics working in the crime and justice sector to discuss contemporary issues affecting Australia. A virtual ticket option is available giving you access to the plenary sessions.
| |
Applications now open for participants in a research study examining the impact of online surveillance on personal privacy
A study examining how people think about identity, privacy, and surveillance in their use of the internet and social media is now underway. Drawing on openly accessible social media data, the study is expected to provide significant insights into how individuals think about the privacy of their online identity, in relation to data they commonly share themselves.
The study will be conducted over four stages.
- An eligibility questionnaire in which participants are asked to watch a short video and read some statements about how the research will proceed.
- An online survey asking several additional questions about your use of social media, your postcode, and your willingness to participate in the research.
- In-depth searches (conducted by the researchers) of the open web to examine participants online identity using four search variables: name, email, age, and postcode. These details will be collated into a profile, which will be provided to the participant ahead of the fourth stage of research.
- A 1-hour Interview focusing on the information collected during searching (stage 3), internet use, online identity construction and thoughts about online privacy and surveillance
It is anticipated that the research will provide great insight into the size and scope of individuals online identity and privacy gaps. The final report will be published as a PhD thesis through Deakin University.
Your participation is entirely voluntary. You reserve the right to withdraw from this research at any time during the study. This study has received Deakin University ethics approval 2020-260
| |
AIJA Indigenous Youth Justice Conference Law Society of New South Wales
Date: Saturday 29 and Sunday 30 October 2022
Format: Hybrid - in person and online
Venue: Dockside, Darling Harbour, Cockle Bay Wharf, 2 Wheat Road, SYDNEY NSW 2000
The AIJA, in collaboration with the Law Society of New South Wales, is proud to present this conference to examine many of the thorny, complex issues associated with Indigenous youth justice and to promote meaningful discussion about ways to improve the situation.
We will be guided by the conference’s expert presenters, including elders, community leaders, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander members of the judiciary and legal profession, medical specialists and academics.
Indigenous justice is a strategic priority area for the AIJA and something I feel strongly about contributing to improvements. I’m confident that the AIJA Indigenous Youth Justice Conference – the first we have been able to hold in-person since 2019 – will inform meaningful conversations about potential ways to help reduce over-representation and improve Indigenous youth justice outcomes.
| |
Health Justice Conversation: From patients to policy
Date: 9 November
Time: 8am-9am
Join us for a series of conversations with world leaders on the social determinants of health, the intersection of social and health care and the pipeline from clinical care to systems change.
Partnerships between health and legal assistance services have assisted countless people overcome complex and intersecting problems in their lives by providing access to legal help in health settings.
But how do these collaborations leverage real systemic change from helping individuals with their health-harming legal problems?
Join us for a conversation with Bethany Hamilton, co-Director of the National Center for Medical-Legal Partnership (NCMLP) at the Milken Institute School of Public Health, about the opportunities for advocacy in this work, what it takes to engage in policy and systems change, and the impact it can achieve.
| |
Call for Submissions to the University of New South Wales Law Journal Issue 46(2) ‘Life Sciences: Ethics, Innovation and the Future of Law’
Submission deadline: 18 November 2022,
At no other time in history has the intersection of life sciences and the law been so patently observable, yet complex. Life sciences concern the study of ‘living organisms, their life processes, and their relationships to each other and their environment’. They encompass a substantial scope of biological inquiry, including, ecology, reproductive technologies neuroscience, immunology and genetics, among many others.
The life sciences, as both an industry and area of research, is anticipated to experience
significant growth in the coming years, fuelled by digital transformation, collaboration and
heavy investment in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. These factors place the law’s approach to the growing life sciences industry at the forefront of its trajectory. Science’s impac on law, however, is not unilateral; the ‘constant, mutually constitutive interplay of biological and legal conceptions of life’ also define our social norms. The onus then falls upon the law to navigate the morally, ethically and culturally turbulent waters of society’s response to developments in the life sciences. The close integration of life sciences and the law will continue to be of significance in the coming years, as the interaction between the two fields will be responsible for crafting ‘desirable futures’ through the creation of new technologies. The importance of publishing high-quality Australian scholarship in this area cannot be overstated. [References omitted]
Criminal Law
- The legal and ethical concerns pertaining to the advent of novel forensic methodologies such as investigative genetic genealogy;
- Reliance on genetic markers to predict patterns of criminality and the legal implication of shifting criminal liability onto an offender’s biological identity;
- The possible creation of a new category of international crime for the irresponsible manipulation of gene editing technology; and
- The use of neuropsychological indicators as mitigating factors in sentencing
| |
LAWASIA Conference
LAWASIA is pleased to announce the 35th LAWASIA Conference will be held at the Hilton Hotel in Sydney, from 18-21 November 2022.
LAWASIA is a regional association of lawyers, judges, jurists and legal organisations, which advocates for the interests and concerns of the Asia-Pacific Legal Profession. It promotes the cross-jurisdictional exchange of legal knowledge and acts as a conduit for encouraging adherence principles of the rule of law and protection of human rights. NSW Chief Justice Bell is the Chair of the Judicial Division and Arthur Moses SC is a member of the Executive.
The Annual Conference is LAWASIA’s flagship event. It is a platform for the convergence of bar leaders, jurists, professional organisations and individual lawyers from across the Asia Pacific, and is designed to facilitate the discussion of regional developments in law, including such issues as judicial practice, legal education, cross border business and investment law and cross-border dispute resolution.
| |
UNSW Law & Justice presents the 2022 Hal Wootten Lecture with the Honourable Chief Justice Kiefel AC
Date: Thu., 24 November 2022
Time: 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm AEDT
Location: UNSW Law and Justice Law Theatre G04, Ground floor, Law & Justice Building
Kensington, NSW 2052
A nudge in the right direction: In 2008, Hal Wootten spoke of his belief that “every now and then there is the opportunity to give a little nudge that sends the law along the direction it ought to go”.
In the 2022 Hal Wootten Lecture, Chief Justice Kiefel discusses landmark cases that have shaped Australian common law, tracing the development of legal principles arising from those cases and highlighting how these cases are the culmination of past judicial “nudges” in the right direction.
| |
2022 ANZSOC Conference ‘Transforming Criminology for the 2020’s and Beyond’
Date: Monday 28 – Wednesday 30 November 2022
Venue: Darwin Convention Centre, Darwin NT
| |
First Nations PhD Scholarships available at UWA Law School, Perth: The Australian Preventive Justice Project.
Closing date: 31 October
Two PhD Scholarships are available for First Nations students on the ARC DECRA project, 'The Australian Preventive Justice Project'.
This project, led by Associate Professor Tamara Tulich (DECRA Fellow, UWA Law School), aims to generate the first account of Australian preventive justice. Through original legal, historical and critical research, the project will create new knowledge by mapping, for the first time, the legal architecture of preventive justice in the Australia since colonisation, and analysing these laws and their impacts through settler colonial and coloniality theories.
The project is seeking to appoint two First Nations PhD students to complete their doctoral research on topics related to the project. The PhD students will be supervised by Associate Professor Tamara Tulich, Noongar scholar Dr Robyn Williams (Curtin Medical School) and a suitable supervisor at UWA, and be mentored by the project's First Nations Project Steering Committee. The PhD Candidates will have the opportunity to participate in project meetings, publication and dissemination activities as part of their research training, and to be part of the vibrant and supportive research culture at UWA Law School.
| |
Review of fraud and fraud-related offences in New South Wales.
Submissions Close: 4 November 2022
Terms of Reference
The Sentencing Council is asked to conduct a review of sentencing for fraud and fraud related offences in New South Wales, especially but not limited to offences in Part 4AA of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW), and make any recommendations for reform that it considers appropriate.
In undertaking this review, the Sentencing Council should:
- provide sentencing statistics for convictions over a five year period;
- provide information on the characteristics of offenders, sentence type and length; and
- provide background information, including:
- the key sentencing principles and reasoning employed by sentencing judges;
- the mitigating subjective features of offenders; and
- any other significant factors considered in sentencing decisions that explain how courts come to their final decision on sentence (which may be done using case-studies or collation of predominate themes across cases).
| |
The Association of Commonwealth Universities ACU Early Career Researcher (ECR) Training Grants fund staff at ACU member universities
The application window will close on Monday 7 November at 23:59 UTC.
Hosted by the ACU Supporting Research Community, ACU Early Career Researcher (ECR) Training Grants fund staff at ACU member universities to organise and deliver training for their early career researchers, including doctoral candidates. The training equips researchers with essential skills to enable them to succeed in their careers, whether they remain in academia, or utilise their skills in other professional fields.
Who can apply?
Research office staff, or any other staff members who lead on providing training for early career researchers.
Universities can use their internal criteria of what defines an ECR, but this must include Doctoral candidates, and the training must be made available to ECRs from multiple disciplines.
Training must be targeted at early career researchers but can be opened up to other groups, e.g. mid-level researchers.
This grant scheme cannot fund existing training courses.
Priority will be given to those member universities that have not previously been awarded an Early Career Researcher Training Grant.
| |
The Parliament of Australia is Accepting Submissions:
Missing and murdered First Nations women and children
The submission closing date is 11 November 2022.
Terms of Reference
Missing and murdered First Nations women and children, with particular reference to:
- the number of First Nations women and children who are missing and murdered;
- the current and historical practices, including resources, to investigating the deaths and missing person reports of First Nations women and children in each jurisdiction compared to non-First Nations women and children;
- the institutional legislation, policies and practices implemented in response to all forms of violence experienced by First Nations women and children;
- the systemic causes of all forms of violence, including sexual violence, against First Nations women and children, including underlying social, economic, cultural, institutional and historical causes contributing to the ongoing violence and particular vulnerabilities of First Nations women and children;
- the policies, practices and support services that have been effective in reducing violence and increasing safety of First Nations women and children, including self-determined strategies and initiatives;
- the identification of concrete and effective actions that can be taken to remove systemic causes of violence and to increase the safety of First Nations women and children;
- the ways in which missing and murdered First Nations women and children and their families can be honoured and commemorated; and
- any other related matters.
| |
The Association of Commonwealth Universities Early Career Conference Grants
Application closes: 28 November 2022 23:59 UTC
Grants are being offered for both virtual (online) and in-person conferences between 1 April and 30 September 2023.
Applicants must:
- Be employed by an ACU member university with a job title of lecturer, post-doctoral researcher, professor, associate professor, or equivalent.
- Be within 7 years of the start of their academic (research/teaching) career, with the exception of those who have had career breaks. A career break is a period of time out from employment for personal or professional reasons, including to care for children.
- Not have previously travelled for work purposes (including conferences) outside their region of employment since the start of their academic career.
- Not be a previous recipient of an ACU Early Career Conference Grant (previously known as Early Career Academic Grants)
| |
Authoritarianism & Genocide: Narratives of Exclusion
16th Biennial Meeting of the International Association of Genocide Scholars
Call for Papers Deadline: 1 December 2022
Conference Dates: 10-14 July 2023,
Venue: School of Law, Universitat de Barcelona, Spain
The Call for Paper is now open for the 16th Biennial Meeting of the International Association of Genocide Scholars, 10-14 July 2023, hosted by the School of Law, Universitat de Barcelona, Spain. The theme of this year’s conference is ‘Authoritarianism and Genocide: Narratives of Exclusion’, focusing on the erosion of rule of law and the increasing risk of mass atrocities. Submissions on any aspect of the relationships between authoritarianism and genocide, and democracy and genocide are welcome. As always, we also welcome submissions on any topic within the broad field of genocide studies and related areas. We encourage contributions from practitioners who work on the legal, social, cultural, and scientific aspects of genocide, mass atrocity, and crimes against humanity. More information including submission details available on the website
| |
Master of Criminology Students!John O'Brien Memorial Coursework ScholarshipsA postgraduate coursework scholarship
The John O'Brien Memorial Coursework Scholarships in Criminal Law and Criminology provides support for students studying criminal law and criminology at the University of Sydney Law School.
| |
Indigenous Academic (All levels) University of Melbourne
Closing Date: 24 Oct 2022, 11:55 PM
Only Indigenous Australians are eligible to apply as this position is exempt under the Special Measure Provision, Section 12 (1) of the Equal Opportunity Act 2011 (Vic).
This call for Expressions of Interest seeks talented First Nations scholars to join the Faculty of Arts, at any level and in any of the Faculty’s disciplinary fields.
They invite the submission of a CV and a cover letter outlining (1) your research agenda, (2) your teaching experience, (3) relevant partnerships and community engagement, and (4) your interest in the Faculty of Arts. On review of the EOI, they may choose to invite a more detailed application encompassing key selection criteria at a level commensurate to experience. Reviews of EOI will take place three times a year, at the end of February, June and October.
| |
Professor/Associate Professor/Senior Lecturer/Lecturer in Law (multiple positions)
Southern Cross University
Closing Date: 9:00am, Wednesday 26 October 2022
Southern Cross University’s Faculty of Business, Law and Arts is seeking to build a law discipline that is unique in Australia in its proximity to and engagement with the legal profession.
We believe that it is our purpose to educate and equip outstanding legal practitioners for practice. Therefore, we are looking for a select group to join us at all levels whose connections to practice run deep, and whose authority in their chosen area of expertise is unquestionable.
We are happy to structure the roles we have available to promote ongoing and substantive connection to practice. This may mean flexibility with respect to periods of leave for ongoing embedded professional activity or fractional and joint appointments.
If you have a passion for the Law, for the translation of insights from practice into dynamic legal education and thought leadership, and the preparation of our next generation of practice leaders – this appointment may well be for you.
| |
Hearsay magazine - contributions sought
Contributions to the Association's Hearsay magazine are sought and much appreciated. Contributions, including any accompanying images, should be submitted via email to qldbar@qldbar.asn.au or to Richard Douglas KC at douglas@callinanchambers.com.
| |
Call for submissions: Kim Santow Law and Social Justice Essay Prize
Submissions due by 5.00 pm (AEDT) on Monday 31 October, 2022.
Sydney Law School is pleased to announce the inaugural Kim Santow Law and Social Justice Essay Prize.
The Essay Prize is open to students enrolled in an LLB or JD program at an Australian University. In 2022, essays must be submitted by 31 October 2022, responding this proposition:
The NDIS is described as a shift from a welfare system to a market-based system, but there may be limitations in relying on competition and choice in the provision of disability support. Discuss
Please direct any inquiries to Mr Josh Pallas at: law.reform@sydney.edu.au
| |
Australian Reseach Council
Aplication Closes: 9 November 2022 5:00pm (ACT)
The Australian Laureate Fellowships grant opportunity encourages applications from the highest-quality researchers by providing eligible Australian Laureate Fellows with project funding in addition to a salary and salary-related (on-cost) support.
- Up to 17 five-year Australian Laureate Fellowships may be awarded each year, providing a salary, in addition to a Level E professorial salary provided by the Administering Organisation, funding for up to 2 Postdoctoral Research Associates (5 years) and 2 Postgraduate Researchers (4 years), and up to $300,000 per year project funding.
- Australian Laureate Fellowships include fellowships allocated to exceptional female researchers who will also undertake an ambassadorial role to promote women in research and to mentor early career researchers, particularly women, to encourage them to enter and establish a career in research in Australia.
| |
Australian Reseach Council
Future Fellowships reflects the Australian Government’s commitment to excellence in research by supporting excellent mid-career researchers to undertake high quality research in areas of national and international benefit.
Application closes: 30 November 2022 5:00pm (ACT Local Time)
Eligibility requirements:
- Candidate must not be nominated for more than one Future Fellowship in a grant opportunity;
- have met their obligations regarding previously funded projects, including submission of satisfactory final reports to the ARC at the grant opportunity closing date;
- have an Award of PhD Date on, or between, 1 March 2008 and 1 March 2018;
- or have a PhD award date together with allowable period of career interruption that would be commensurate with an award of PhD date on, or between, 1 March 2008 and 1 March 2018.
| |
Can Postponing Sentencing Protect the Community?
The Sentencing Advisory Council has published a new consultation paper seeking stakeholder and community views on possible changes to ‘deferred sentencing’ – an order postponing sentence for the offender for up to 12 months.
Deferred sentencing allows courts to postpone an offender’s sentence after the offender has been found guilty of an offence. This enables the court to assess the offender’s capacity for rehabilitation, and allows the offender to demonstrate that rehabilitation has taken place, to participate in programs aimed at addressing the underlying causes of their offending, or to participate in restorative justice or similar programs. Sentence deferral has been available in the Victorian Magistrates’ Court since 2000 and in the County Court since 2012.
In the right cases, deferring sentence can be very effective. When offenders use the opportunity to its fullest, it can show courts that the offender is serious about doing something to stop their offending, which can make the community safer in the long term. The deferral period can be a useful time to facilitate restorative justice processes between the offender and any victims. Deferred sentencing can also be especially useful for offenders who are pregnant or who are primary caregivers to give them the time they need to make appropriate arrangements for their children.
Despite these potential benefits, deferred sentencing does not seem to be frequently used. The Council found 3,507 recorded sentence deferrals in the Magistrates’ Court in the eight years from 2012 to 2019. This amounts to 0.4% of all sentenced cases in the Magistrates’ Court in that period.
The consultation paper asks 14 questions about possible reforms to deferred sentencing. Should courts have to consider the interests of the victim before deferring sentence? How do we, as a community, make sure appropriate programs will be available? How should an offender’s behaviour during deferral affect their sentence? And how do we make sure deferral doesn’t become another way of entrenching people in the justice system?
The Council is interested in hearing from those who work in the justice system, those with lived experience of the criminal justice system, as well as members of the general community.
Submissions will be open until Friday 2 December 2022. The Council will then review the submissions, develop options for reform, test those options at a series of roundtables in early 2023, and then submit a final report with recommendations to the Attorney-General in 2023.
| |
The Parliament of Australia is Accepting Submissions:
The extent and nature of poverty in Australia
Submissions are due by 3 February 2023
Terms of Reference
The extent and nature of poverty in Australia with particular reference to:
- the rates and drivers of poverty in Australia
- the relationship between economic conditions (including fiscal policy, rising inflation and cost of living pressures) and poverty
- the impact of poverty on individuals in relation to:
(i) employment outcomes,
(ii) housing security,
(iii) health outcomes, and
(iv) education outcomes - the impacts of poverty amongst different demographics and communities
- the relationship between income support payments and poverty
- mechanisms to address and reduce poverty; and
- any related matters.
| |
|
BLOGS, INTERVIEWS & PODCASTS
| |
Hate Crime
Jennifer Schweppe and Mark Walters
In this episode, Professor Walters and Professor Schweppe are joined by Professor Neil Chakraborti, Director of the Centre for Hate Studies and a Professor of Criminology at the School of Criminology at the University of Leicester, and Dr Barbara Perry, Professor in Social Science and Humanities and Director of the Centre on Hate, Bias and Extremism at the Ontario Tech University, where they discuss and examine the question: what is a hate crime? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
| |
Would you like to contribute to CrimNet?
Contact us to share your criminal justice news, publications, events or job opportunities. There is no cost involved. Simply email us with your information.
| |
|
|
|
|
|
