“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...
Becoming a Magistrate or Judge in NSW
Magistrates and judges preside over the courts in NSW and are responsible for making a wide range of decisions about various fields of law. Magistrates sit in the Local Court and are often responsible for presiding over a large number...
How can memory loss affect a criminal case?
Being involved in a traffic accident where people are left injured can be an incredibly traumatic experience, but what if you then find yourself facing a criminal court as a result? Having to defend yourself against serious driving charges can...
Does More Police Mean Less Crime?
The NSW liberal government was returned to power with a comfortable majority over the weekend. If you were following the election campaign, you might have noticed that both Premier Mike Baird and opposition leader Luke Foley engaged in a good...
