Jill Meagher Murder – Should Juries Know About Prior Offences?
Adrian Bayley: It’s a name that sends chills down the spines of women right around the country. The 41-year-old man found himself in the media spotlight after he was convicted of murdering 29-year-old ABC employee Jill Meagher in Melbourne in...
Kids in Adult Prisons – Is it Ever Justified?
Imagine being a 12-year-old kid and getting told that you were being sent to an adult prison, where all the ‘hardened criminals’ are. It is a situation that many of us might find hard to comprehend. For those who have...
“Suicide by Cop” and the Growing Need for Police Mental Health Training
“Suicide by cop” It was a Sunday afternoon in San Francisco when 32-year-old Matthew Hoffman approached police officers and started asking questions about the weapons they were carrying. Later that evening, police noticed Hoffman loitering around a restricted parking lot...
Murder or Miscarriage? The Feticide Debate
One of the most hotly debated legal issues these days is whether those who have intentionally caused a miscarriage should be charged with foetal homicide - commonly known as ‘feticide.’ On the one hand, women’s rights advocates have cautioned against...
Is Your Lawyer the Real Deal? Consequences for faking a law degree
If you watch the legal drama Suits you would be familiar with the plight of Mike Ross, a college dropout who lands a job working alongside infamous New York lawyer Harvey Specter, despite never having received a law degree. But...
Is Death by Firing Squad Ever Justified?
It’s the fate that awaits members of the Bali Nine, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran - and a penalty that has drawn widespread criticism from human rights advocates all around the world. But in a move that has been labelled...
Do Protective Services Officers Have Too Much Power?
If you’ve been on social media recently, you might have come across a video depicting Protective Services Officers (PSOs) allegedly assaulting a man at a Victorian train station. According to Moustafa Sayegh, he was approached by the PSOs whilst waiting...
Will meta-data laws catch criminals, or turn civilians into suspects?
Last week, the Federal government’s controversial meta-data laws passed the Senate. The laws require internet and phone service providers (ISPs) to store your meta-data for a period of two years, and to hand that information over to a raft of...
Are Police Misusing their Power to Arrest?
One of our previous blogs discussed the case of a Sydney criminal lawyer who successfully sued the NSW police service after being wrongfully arrested on a train. There have been several other cases of wrongful arrest in NSW in recent...
Mobile Phone Use Sparks Road Rage
The dangers of driving while distracted have been well documented, but have road safety organisations gone too far in convincing people of the dangers of driving and texting, or talking on the phone? It would appear that the message has...
