Should Prisoners Be Able to Choose Death?
Imagine being sentenced to life imprisonment without the prospect of ever being released. While most resign themselves to a lifetime behind bars, others might prefer to be put to death. The case of Belgian man Frank Van den Bleeken has...
Volunteer Police May Get Extra Powers
How would you feel if you were stopped on the street and subjected to a search – by someone other than a sworn officer of the police force? Imagine if that person was simply a police volunteer, with even less...
Human Rights Abuses at Juvenile Detention Centre
Indigenous children are 24 times more likely to be sent to prison than their non-Indigenous counterparts, despite Aboriginal people making up just 3% of the population. These statistics are appalling enough on their own and speak of the crippling problems...
School Kid Arrested for Making a Clock
Ahmed Mohamed is a 14-year-old American living in Texas. He is well-known by his friends, family and peers at school as being the “Inventor Kid”. His talent extends far beyond what most kids his age can do - Ahmed can...
Toughest Prisons in Australia
The female prison population in Western Australia rose at more than double the rate of males between 2009-2014, yet the state has only one all-female prison: Bandyup. Bandyup has been the subject of many studies and reports over the years,...
High Court Rules on ICAC’s Power Struggle
After spectacularly losing to Margaret Cunneen in the High Court earlier this year, ICAC was put on the defensive when it realised that it had less power than it thought. Anxious to prevent past decisions from being overturned, ICAC urged...
Top Five NSW Police Supercars
If you’re a lover of exotic sports cars - or just a revhead in general - then you are bound to be impressed by the NSW Police Force’s fleet of expensive vehicles. Last week, NSW Police added a shiny new...
UK Police Banned from Using ‘Stop & Search’ Powers
The Northamptonshire police force has taken proactive steps to stop its officers from abusing their powers and searching people without reasonable cause. In the UK, as in Australia, police frequently conduct searches without a proper basis. These searches are illegal....
Police Misconduct Puts Innocent Man Behind Bars
Everyone makes mistakes from time to time - but some errors have far greater consequences than others. Like, for instance, the blunder by Western Australian Police, who found a crucial piece of evidence in their own possession many years after...
Paying Fines by Doing Time
Failing to pay a fine will not directly lead to a prison sentence in most Australian states and territories; except in Western Australia, where over 1,000 people have been imprisoned every year since 2010 for failing to pay their fines....
