Serving Alcohol to Beat Alcoholism
Trying to help alcoholics kick the habit by serving them alcoholic drinks might seem like a far-fetched idea - but it is a one with potential to revolutionise the way alcohol dependency is treated, according to a panel of experts...
Art or a crime? Acclaimed Street Artist Faces Graffiti Charges
Acclaimed Australian artist, Anthony Lister, whose works appear in the homes of celebrities like Hugh Jackman, Pink, and Pharrell Williams, appeared in a Brisbane court recently, charged with wilful damage by graffiti. Hailed as “Brisbane’s Banksy”, Mr Lister is widely...
Five Famously Funny Aussies with Law Degrees
Their famously funny faces light up our television screens, but you may not know that some of Australia’s most successful comedians are hiding a dirty little secret – law degrees. People usually hold strong views about members of the legal...
Making a Murderer: David vs Goliath
The ten-hour Netflix documentary series, Making a Murderer, follows the trials of Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey for the rape and murder of Teresa Halbach, revealing significant problems with adversarial justice systems - where a defendant with limited funds is...
Violent cycles: Homelessness and Crime
Around 105,000 people are experiencing homelessness or housing stress in Australia - with Streetsmart estimating that 1 in 200 of us won’t have a home to go to tonight. The experience of homelessness has both long-term and wide-ranging consequences, often...
New Tool Aims to Nip Extremism in the Bud
Reports surfaced last week about extremist preacher Abu Haleema targeting young Australians through social media in a bid to ‘radicalise’ them. British-born Haleema had his passport cancelled by the British government due to his inflammatory sermons which attack moderate Muslim...
Australia Day or Invasion Day?
The 26th of January marks the landing of the First Fleet at Port Jackson in 1788. Millions of Australians celebrate this anniversary each year - usually by throwing a traditional Aussie barbecue, heading down to the beach, or playing a...
The Profile of a Prolific Perpetrator
What drives a person to commit a crime? Are certain people more likely to offend? These questions have been considered for hundreds of years, with everything from physical characteristics to class status being seen as responsible for an increased likelihood...
Police Want Corruption Hearings to be Private
As discussed in a previous blog, the vast majority of court hearings in Australia are open to the public - which is important to promote transparency in the justice system. But two Victorian police officers who are facing multiple allegations...
The Evolving Legal Status of Aboriginals in Australia
High Court Justices Deane and Gaudron famously acknowledged how the law allowed extreme prejudice suffered by Indigenous Australians in Mabo v Queensland: “The official endorsement, by administrative practice and in judgment of the courts, of those two propositions [of terra...
