Courts Show No Leniency Towards Drug Addicted Offenders
A recent case in Downing Centre District Court illustrates the way in which the courts deal with drug addicted people who commit crime to support their habit. In R v Ligaiviu [2015], the offender’s addiction to crystal methamphetamine, or ‘ice’,...
Man Released Due to Lack of Prison Resources
In the latest example of the effects of prison overcrowding, a District Court judge has been forced to release an alleged drug supplier on bail due to a lack of resources in prisons and remand centres. The unnamed man appeared...
Australia Applies to Join the UNHRC: But Existing Members are Critical
Delegates from more than 100 countries delivered speeches during the latest meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva, many of whom were highly critical of Australia’s human rights record, especially our treatment of asylum seekers. Countries...
WA Police Admit Bungling Major Cases
We recently wrote a blog about the case of Gene Gibson, who allegedly ‘admitted’ in a police interview to killing 21-year-old Joshua Warneke, despite not being able to understand English and not having an interpreter. In July 2014, the Western...
Fascinating Cases: First Slavery Prosecution in Australia
Slavery has been illegal for the majority of Australia’s post-colonial history - although it has existed and continues to exist right up to today. Here, like in the rest of the world, human trafficking and sexual servitude are a hidden...
Australian Prisons: Dumping Grounds for Mentally Ill Aboriginals
Indigenous people and those suffering from mental health conditions are the most overrepresented groups in Australians prisons today. Around 38% of inmates in Australia have been diagnosed with a mental illness - and 27% of our prison population is Indigenous....
Murderer Asks Court for a Release Date
Kevin Crump was sentenced to life imprisonment for the horrific rape and murder of Virginia Morse and Ian Lamb in 1973, with a recommendation that he ‘never be released’. He has been behind bars for the past 42 years -...
Senator says: “All Cops Are Bastards”
Senator David Leyonhjelm has faced criticism for telling the media on Tuesday that: “There is a saying amongst [soccer fans] that all cops are bastards. The cops have earned that label, they have to un-earn it.” The comments have outraged...
Queensland’s First ‘Training Prison’ to Open in 2016
Recent years have seen an increased focus on sending people to prison as punishment, rather than for rehabilitation. Unfortunately, the steep rise in prison rates means that more often than not, inmates are unable to access the limited support and...
Police to Pay Costs After Assaulting Man Over Dinosaur
We recently penned a blog about removalist Rickey Caton, who was assaulted and then charged by police after he jokingly showed two officers a toy dinosaur during a roadside stop. But it seems the joke is now on the police...
