Celebrity No Barrier to Charges of Negligent Driving in NSW
Being a celebrity is no barrier to falling foul of traffic laws, as football commentator Mark Bosnich recently discovered. An alleged incident involving a cyclist has led to Bosnich being charged with driving at a speed or manner dangerous, and...
Juvenile Killers of Janine Balding – Should they ever be released?
The imprisonment of two teenage convicted killers for life has been ruled inhumane and a contravention of human rights by the United Nations. The two were sentenced to life imprisonment for the abduction, rape and murder of Janine Balding in...
Is a Positive Indication by a Sniffer Dog Enough for Police to Search You? Part 2: Applying Empirical Data
In Part 1 of this series, we outlined the law relating to ‘reasonable suspicion’. To re-cap, the law says that police can only search you for drugs if they have a ‘suspicion on reasonable grounds’ that you have drugs on...
New Justice Appointed to High Court of Australia
A few weeks ago we reported that two current High Court Justices, Susan Crennan and Kenneth Hayne, will be due to retire next year when they reach the age of 70. Their imminent departure sparked discussion within the legal profession...
Is a Positive Indication by a Sniffer Dog Enough for Police to Search You? Part 1: “Reasonable Suspicion”
We have posted numerous articles and videos about the fact that police cannot undertake random or arbitrary searches upon people - they must have a ‘suspicion on reasonable grounds’ before performing a search. This two-part blog aims to answer the...
UN Finds Australian Government Guilty of Human Rights Abuses
Prisoners being sedated, tied to chairs and subjected to physical abuse - it sounds like something out of Guantanamo Bay, but in reality these horrific activities occur much closer to home. Earlier this week, the United Nations Human Rights Commission...
Drug Detection Dogs Reportedly Providing False Leads
It has been revealed that the majority of strip searches by police based on indications from drug detection dogs do not result in any drugs being found. Government data obtained by the NSW Greens and reported in the media reveals...
Why Have Female Arrest Rates Increased in Recent Years?
According to the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR), adult female arrest rates are on the increase. The number of adult female persons of interest in criminal cases in NSW over the last decade has increased by an...
Effect of New Technology on Court Trials
Technology is evolving at a staggering pace and this is never more evident than in the criminal justice system. New technology is continually affecting every stage of the forensic process, from the reporting of crime to the types of evidence...
Should Prison Inmates be Required to Earn their Keep?
In America, some jurisdictions have what they call a “pay to stay” prison fee system, where inmates must pay on a sliding scale in proportion to what they can afford. In others, inmates must cover the costs essentials including their...
