Welcome to HSC Legal Studies: News Watch

'Bail Me Out: NSW young offenders and bail' has been produced by the Youth Justice Coalition.  This research examined 145 cases before the Children's Court.  It describes the links between homelessness, policing practices and community resources and the young offender's breaching of bail conditions.

'Breach of Bail and Juvenile remand and crime' and 'Trends in bail and sentencing outcomes' are earlier blog posts that will link you to other research that has been done on this issue.

If you have a reader's card for the State Library of NSW, you can find more articles in the media on Proquest ANZ Newsstand dealing with bail.  These include:

• 'Juvenile justice: responding to Australia's children and young people in trouble with the law' by Jenny Bargen, (2008)  92 Reform (Winter) 28-32, 72, and
• 'Law and order 2008: a very tough new world' by Dennis Miralis, (2008) 64 (3) Law Society Journal (April) 60-63.

The ‘The Protection and Promotion of Human Rights in Australia’  was released on 8 October 2009.  There is a summary included with the report.  The report is a large document and to read it online you need to click on the 'downloads' link. 

In December 2008 the Rudd Government asked the National Human Rights Consultation Committee to examine the protection and promotion of human rights and responsibilities in Australia.

The Committee conducted the most extensive consultation on human rights issues in Australia’s history, receiving more than 35,000 submissions and conducting over 65 community roundtables and public hearings across more than 50 urban, regional and remote locations.

The report contains 31 recommendations and provides important information about what we do well and assesses options for addressing the areas where we can do better.

Overwhelmingly, the report finds that Australians support the protection of human rights, however, most of the debate surrounds the way these rights are protected.  What the research has identified is that there are many views on how human rights and responsibilities should be protected, promoted and realised, including on the merits of a Human Rights Act.

Importantly, it has also shown that there are many other important ways to protect and promote human rights including, for example, through enhanced education and improved parliamentary scrutiny.

The Attorney-General released a public statement at the same time as the launch of the report which outlines the key findings and states the Australian government's intentions to carefully consider the Committee's report and outline its response in the coming months.

George Williams responded to the report with a piece in the SMH 'A clear voice crying dignity for our fellow beings' on 9 October 2009.

Numerous articles have been written in the media in response to the release of this consultation report.  You can do a search on Proquest Australia and New Zealand Newsstand, a database of fulltext newspaper articles.  You need to register as a client of the State Library.  Set dates to after 1 October 2009 and type in 'human rights and Brennan'.  (Just typing in 'human rights' will get too many hits.)

The LIAC Crime Library has been updated.  It includes the following new cases:

• R v Bui - a district court decision that involved exposing children to the cultivation of cannabis,
• R v Thomas & Manju Sam - the parents who were found guilty of manslaughter by criminal negligence of their baby daughter Gloria,
• R v Walsh - John Walsh's conviction for the murder of his wife and two grandchildren in Cowra,
• R v BW & SW - the murder and manslaughter of Ebony, the daughter of BW and SW by starvation, and
• R v Barker - the stabbing attack of a teenager that was heard in the District Court.

The entries for the convictions of Bruce Burrell for the murder of Kerrie Whelan and Dorothy Davis have also been updated. 

The New South Wales Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research have published their latest statistics for 2008 for criminal matters titled NSW Criminal Court Statistics 2008  These statistics include matters heard in the Children's Court.  If you are interested in how recent changes to laws are affecting young people, in particular how the changes to the Bail Act 1978 (NSW) have affected applications for bail by young offenders, these statistics will be of interest. 

Key statistics demonstrate that in the Children's Court between 2007 and 2008

• The number of juveniles appearing in court and convicted of one or more offences rose by 17%; 
• The number of juveniles refused bail rose by 48%; and
• The number of juveniles receiving control orders rose by 18%.

The NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research conducted research on Circle Sentencing and found that it does not reduce the risk of re-offending by Aboriginal offenders.  The Bureau's report is "Does circle sentencing reduce Aboriginal offending?" by Jacqueline Fitzgerald, Crime and Justice Bulletin (2008) No 115.

Circle sentencing is an alternative method of sentencing Aboriginal offenders which has been used in different areas amongst Aboriginal communities including Nowra, Dubbo, and Kempsey.   

The study examined three issues: 

• whether Circle Sentencing reduces the frequency of offending
• whether Circle Sentencing increases the time between offences
• whether Circle Sentencing reduces the seriousness of any further offending.

Despite these findings, the Director of the Bureau, Dr Don Weatherburn said Circle Sentencing should be strengthened rather than abandoned and used in conjunction with other programs such as drug and alcohol treatment and cognitive behaviour therapy.