The Criminal Justice System’s Failure to Deal with Mental Health
Positive mental health is important to maintain a balanced and healthy lifestyle, which can in turn lead to positive social, economic and physical health outcomes as well as reduce the likelihood of criminal offending. But sadly, mental health issues continue...
Parliament Finds Policing Mental Health Crises Is Deadly, But Major Parties Resist Reform
A carer recently explained in a submission to the NSW mental health access parliamentary inquiry, that on calling NSW police to a crises her mental health patient was having, eight officers arrived, who appeared to have no understanding of such...
NSW Police: Killing Individuals Undergoing Mental Health Crises Since Inception
The since-deceased Andrew Pinnock told his long-time GP that he’d be dead by afternoon’s end on Wednesday 10 January, as, the man who was once charged with impersonating a lawyer, produced a Glock pistol at Nowra’s Junction Street Medical Centre...
Footage Released of NSW Police Using Excessive Force Against Elderly Woman
While the outrage that New South Wales police tasered a 95-year old dementia patient in a Cooma nursing home last week continues to simmer, another disturbing story has emerged. Footage has now surfaced of of six police officers using two...
NSW Police Turned Their Body Cameras Off Before Fatally Shooting Mentally Ill Man
NSW police tactical operations officers didn’t have to shoot Todd McKenzie dead on a July evening in 2019. Yet, following a nine-hour siege, five officers stormed his Taree home, where he was alone, and shot the 40-year-old man, having a mental...
The History of Parricide: Intentionally Killing a Close Family Member
Murdering one’s own mother or father is an act so reviled throughout history that no King, Queen, Emperor, Sultan or dictator wanted to acknowledge it even existed by making it a discrete criminal offence. This is despite many such heads...
Climate Defender’s Mental Health Application Succeeds in Court
Mali Cooper was the courageous Blockade Australia climate defender, who, on 27 June 2022, as part of a broader citywide protest blocked the northern entrance to the Sydney Harbour Tunnel with their car, causing morning peak hour disruption, aiming to alert...
The New Mental Health Regime in the NSW Criminal Courts
The Mental Health and Cognitive Impairment Forensic Provisions Act 2020 (NSW) (the New Act) came into effect on the 27 March 2021. Passed last June, the New Act replaces the Mental Health (Forensic Provisions) Act 1990 (NSW) (the Old Act)...
Do I Need To Attend My Local Court Case During The Coronavirus Pandemic?
The Chief Magistrate of the NSW Local Court, Judge Graeme Henson, has made announcements about changes the court will implement from Monday, 30 March 2020 in response to the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) Pandemic. These changes are aimed at managing the thousands...
Section 32 Mental Health Applications: A Psychiatrist’s Report is Not Necessary
Joseph Perdicaro was charged with two criminal offences on 6 April 2018. The first was stalking or intimidation with intent to cause physical or mental harm under section 13 of the Crimes (Domestic and Personal Violence) Act 2007 (NSW). This...
