The New Consent Directions in Jury Trials for Sexual Offences
The Crimes Legislation Amendment (Sexual Consent Reforms) Act 2021 (‘the Amending Act’) came into effect on 1 June 2022 (NSW), overhauling the definition of consent as it relates to certain sexual offences and revising the meaning of sexual intercourse, sexual touching and...
Tips For Testifying in Court as a Witness
Receiving a subpoena to attend court as a witness can be nerve-wracking, particularly if all you know about giving evidence - also known as ‘testifying’ – is from courtroom dramas where a lawyer eviscerates a hapless person on the stand...
Towards Rights-Based Bail, and the Chilling Effect of Extreme Conditions on Climate Action
The last 12 months have been marked by a new tactic taken towards nonviolent direct actions carried out in the defence of climate and the environment, which has seen jurisdictions, such as NSW, Victoria and Tasmania, dramatically escalate the punishments...
DNA Evidence is Not as Reliable as Many Believe it to Be
TV-shows like CSI and Bones, have seared in the public consciousness the image of the faultless crime fighting forensic scientist and infallibility of DNA evidence. But the reality is that DNA evidence is not what many believe it to be...
What is A Voir Dire?
A lot of legal jargon is outdated, confusing, unnecessary and even counter-productive to ensuring the law is comprehensible to all people - whether represented by a lawyer or self-represented - and that access to justice is fair, regardless of whether...
No Crime, No Time: ISJA’s Dave Pollock on Reforming Victoria’s Harsh Bail Regime
The impacts of harsh bail laws have been increasingly raised over recent years, as state governments have tightened them. Indeed, last year saw NSW impose an unworkable prohibition on granting bail to those convicted, prior to their “likely” sentencing, unless exceptional circumstances...
Calls for an Australian Criminal Cases Review Commission: An Interview With Former High Court Justice Michael Kirby
From Februrary 2022: Michael Kirby has recently completed a chapter for a Canadian legal publication, in which the esteemed former High Court Justice outlines the need for more thorough safeguards against unjust convictions in this country. Within the chapter Miscarriages...
What is a Severity Appeal in New South Wales?
An elite cyclist has had his convictions overturned in the District Court of New South Wales after initially pleading guilty in the Local Court to assaulting two teenage girls following a ‘knock and run’ prank. 27-year old Dutch cyclist Mathieu...
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...
In What Circumstances Can I Change My Plea of Guilty to Not Guilty in NSW?
A man who unexpectedly pleaded guilty to murdering American Scott Johnson in 1988, has had his conviction quashed on appeal and will now face trial for murder in the Supreme Court of New South Wales. Scott Johnson’s naked body was...
