What is the Mental Element of Murder in New South Wales?
Colombian student Hector Enrique Valencia was initially charged with murder over the killing of Kimberley McRae in her Coogee apartment in January 2020, as well as the alternative charge of manslaughter. The 23-year old pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the...
Are ‘Recovered’ Memories of Childhood Abuse Reliable?
In the 1970s, a Canadian woman named Michelle Smith sought psychiatric treatment for depression following a miscarriage. Her psychiatrist, Lawrence Pazder, felt that her symptoms indicated early experiences of child sexual abuse, and he then used hypnosis to help “recover”...
Is it a Crime to Produce, Possess or Distribute AI Generated Child Pornography?
AI image generators, which use cutting edge algorithms to create unique, photo-realistic images are quickly becoming popular within creative industries. But as with all new technologies, they can also be used for nefarious purposes. Arrest for producing child pornography via...
A History of the Codification of Law and the Separation of Powers
Laws and legal systems are meant to be the framework by which moral standards and social order are maintained, with the utilitarian objective of benefiting a social group as a whole; whether that be a tribe, community, a nation-state and...
A History of Crime: Investigations, Trials and Punishments
Criminal law is concerned with acts committed against society as a whole, and criminal offences, also known as crimes, are prosecuted by agents of the state such as police, public prosecutorial services and other governmental regulatory bodies, such as the...
Nauru Hunger Strikers Medevaced to Australia, After a Decade Detained Offshore
Two offshore detainees in Nauru were lying on a blanket outdoors last Friday, after having spent four days without eating or even taking water. These men were hunger striking in protest against our government having held them on the island...
NSW Police with Drug Dogs Saturate Global Mardi Gras: An Interview With Greens MLC Cate Faehrmann
The Australian prime minister marching in the Sydney Mardi Gras this year marked a stark shift in societal values as compared with the first time the event was staged in 1978, which saw the NSW police violently set upon the...
Evolution of Contempt of Court Charges
Contempt of court charges have existed as far back as the 12th century, when it was called, ‘Contempt of the King’ under Anglo Saxon Laws. During the reign of King Edward the Confessor and King William the Conqueror, the offence...
Queensland Set to Introduce Pill Testing
Queensland has been criticised in recent years for its increasingly punitive approach to crime - policies such as suppressing divergent thinking and prosecuting young alleged offenders rather than seeking to embrace free thought, address the underlying causing of crime and...
Free Speech versus Censorship: Where Should the Line be Drawn?
At the beginning of this year, a small independent magazine was pulled from bookstore and news agency shelves in New Zealand over claims it had published sensitive information about the Christchurch Mosque massacre in 2019. The accusation, which appeared in...
