Law and Justice

• 1. Introduction
• 2. Different ways people talk about law and justice
• 3. Principles to protect our freedom
• 4. Has the right person been caught?
• 5. Reporting crime
• 6. Bail and bail conditions
• 7. What the court room can tell us
• 8. Legal aid
• 9. Police
• 10. Different kinds of policing
• 11. Zero tolerance
• 12. Sentencing
• 13. Prisons
• 14. Probation and parole
• 15. Diversionary conferencing
• 16. Victims of crime
• Wind-up
• Additional Resources

1. Introduction

In this module we look at different ways people talk about ‘law’ and ‘justice’.

We look at some current suggestions for dealing with crime—whether it be more police, different kinds of policing, zero tolerance, longer sentences, more prisons, different kinds of prisons, or diversionary conferencing.

We also look at what the community can do to help support people who suffer as a result of crimes, and their families. We discuss prison and the role of punishment and rehabilitation for convicted criminals.

The topics can be lively. As with all the other modules, the time you take on any of these pages is really for the group to decide.

You may also be interested in inviting speakers to come along to future sessions—for example, a local police officer, an officer from probation and parole, a speaker from a victims of crime group, or a volunteer from a prisoner/families aid organisation. Make sure you plan sufficiently far ahead so that the speakers can be available. Try to get a range of different opinions. Be prepared to challenge your present ideas.

2. Different ways people talk about law and justice

There are different systems of law throughout the world.

In Australia we have a system based on English ‘common law’, where judges rely on past ways of deciding cases (precedent) and on what parliament sets down in acts of parliament (legislation).

Many cultures rely on the local community to settle differences. For example, in a Melanesian country like Papua New Guinea, if there has been domestic violence then both sides of the family are likely to meet, together with the married couple, and have a bold and frank discussion spelling out the behaviour that is expected.

In a multicultural country like Australia, we can expect that many people have grown up in other systems of law and justice. Even our system has changed over time—England can no longer overrule Australian laws as it once could. When Australia was settled by the English, rules based on military law were introduced. Before that, of course, Aboriginal law existed, which was bound up in relationships and spiritual and cultural connections with the land.

So different systems of law and justice can be found across time and space.

3. Principles to protect our freedom

Discussion starter quiz

Each of these principles is reflected in federal, state and territory law in Australia, to some extent. Indeed some rights have been created or enhanced by legislation. On the other hand, many of these principles are not enshrined in any ‘absolute’ sense. Some are subject to limitations and exceptions, often reflecting countervailing enforcement objectives.

The application of federal law to the right to make a phone call (6) when detained by police is a good example. At common law (judge-made law), there was no clear right to a telephone call. Federal legislation has made that right clear, where a person is arrested in relation to a federal offence. In fact, federal law gives a right to more than one phone call: there are detailed rights about communication with friends, relatives, legal advisers and others. However, these rights can be overridden in limited, specified circumstances: for example, if there are reasonable grounds to believe the person would abuse the right to make a telephone call to ‘tip off’ an accomplice or secure the destruction of evidence.

The right to remain silent (7) exists in the United States under their Bill of Rights, but within Australia the right is limited (for example, you must give your name and address to a police officer if you’re the driver of a vehicle, or a witness to an accident) and the right is further limited in several jurisdictions. You may have the right to legal representation (11) but that doesn’t mean you can necessarily afford a lawyer or be eligible for legal aid. The right to a jury (14) is generally restricted to more serious offences. Only a small number of all offences are tried before juries in Australia.

4. Has the right person been caught?

Get the facts

You need to be sure you have the whole story. You need to check if witnesses are telling the truth or are remembering events accurately. You need to check that documents and other evidence are genuine. If you decide too soon—in the heat of the moment—and you miss relevant facts, you may do an injustice to someone. This is distinctly possible because you are relying on other people as witnesses to say what happened. The courts try to guard against innocent people going to prison on false, misleading or unsubstantiated evidence by having court practice rules to limit what can be discussed.

Fair trials and the media
. . Jackson fair trial worry

THE judge in superstar Michael Jackson’s child molestation case has conceded that intense media scrutiny makes his chances of getting a fair trial ‘very difficult.’

The startling admission from Judge Rodney Melville came as media lawyers battled to win access to more explosive details of the celebrity case that prosecutors, defence lawyers and the judge want to keep under wraps.

‘I’m being very careful, I’m following the law,’ the judge said on Friday in response to a charge by media lawyer Theodore Boutros that a ‘blanket of secrecy’ had been thrown around the case.

‘It is exasperating when the individual is known around the world,’ the judge said. ‘It makes it very difficult for the individual to get a fair trial.’

The comment came in response to a fresh call by Boutros, representing a group of media organisations, for more documents and details of the child sex allegations and probes against Jackson to be made public.

The lawyer vowed he would take his battle to uncover more details of the allegations against Jackson to the next level of courts.

‘My problem is that the secrecy has gotten worse and worse,’ he told reporters. ‘Both sides have gotten together to create this almost impenetrable veil of secrecy.’

The key document [that] media organisations want access to, is the sealed indictment that formally accuses the 45-year-old pop king of molesting a 12-year-old boy at his Neverland Ranch last year. The indictment was handed down by a grand jury in April, and Jackson pleaded innocent to 10 charges, including child abuse, conspiracy to abduct a child and administering alcohol to the boy to abuse him.

But details of the allegations and the testimony of key witnesses in the case have remained secret.

Prosecutors and the judge have been keen to keep as many details of the case as possible out of the media glare in order to protect the integrity of the trial and ensure a fair process for everyone involved.

Even Jackson’s defence team led by Thomas Mesereau, has opposed the release of many documents in the case, fearing a trial by media ahead of the legal trial, tentatively scheduled to start on September 13.

Mr Mesereau, meanwhile, revealed that he was poised to ask the judge to throw out the entire case against the beleaguered star.

He said he would file a ‘995 motion’ to throw out the case by Tuesday, ahead of Jackson’s next pre-trial hearing, expected July 9.

Sunday Tasmanian 27 June 2004

5. Reporting crime

Our criminal system deals only with cases which come to the notice of the police. Crime is not always reported to the police. Rates of reporting to police vary depending on the type of offence. For example, it appears that only 31 per cent of assault victims and 20 per cent of sexual assault victims report crime incidents. On the other hand, almost all (95 per cent) motor vehicle thefts are reported.

…one of the greatest difficulties police face is the unwillingness of some community members to report incidents of crime. Often police are aware of problems in the community, they know that … crimes are occurring, yet they are frustrated by the lack of information they receive that will assist them in dealing with these incidents.

Chief Superintendent Bruce Johnston, NSW Police Service, 1999.

6. Bail and bail conditions

It usually takes some time before a criminal case can be heard. For some people that can mean months and months locked up ‘on remand’. That is why bail is important. If you are charged with a crime and get bail, you can avoid being put on remand. You must promise to appear at court to answer the charges. Being on bail means it’s easier to keep your job and take care of your family. It also gives you a chance to prepare your case.

Our legal system operates on the principle that a person is innocent until proven guilty. A person has a right to be free unless there is a very good reason for the person to be detained (like the risks of re-offending, absconding, or destroying evidence).

Bail conditions can be applied, such as requiring the defendant to report to the police station at particular intervals, or surrender his or her passport. The Court may also require a surety before admitting a defendant to bail. This means that another person must guarantee the defendant’s appearance in court by pledging a sum of money. The actual rules for bail vary between states and territories.

If bail is refused, the defendant will be locked up in remand until her or his court case. Some people have been known to wait many months in remand before their hearing. If they are found innocent of the charge, they are not compensated for their time in remand.

7. What the court room can tell us

8. Legal aid

If you need legal help and can’t afford to pay for a solicitor, you may be able to get assistance from the Legal Aid Commission in your state or territory. In certain limited circumstances, the defendant (the person who is charged) may obtain free legal advice and representation. In most cases, to receive legal aid a defendant must be on low income, in danger of going to prison and have a reasonable chance of winning the case if properly defended.

Community Legal Centres (which are supported by a small group of staff and volunteers) are an important resource in terms of providing advice and referral in relation to legal aid.

9. Police

The total expenditure by Australian governments on justice in 2002–2003 was about $7.2 billion. The largest component was police services, 68 per cent, compared to corrective services (prisons etc.), about 21 per cent, and court administration, around 11 per cent.

10. Different kinds of policing

Policing has changed in the past 10 to 15 years.

For a long time the technologies of the car, the telephone and portable police radios have allowed police to focus on specific incidents—what is sometimes called the incident-response model. Now new technology—computers, databases and forensic science—have revolutionised the way that the police can tackle individual crime. But technology cannot solve everything. There has even been some evidence that rapid response times have almost no effect on arrest rates or public safety.

At the same time there has been pressure for police to serve a role in community policing. According to this method, achieving good community relations becomes a (if not the) major police task. But how good community relations can be achieved in practice is less clear; most police services have stayed committed to the traditional incident-response model, while acknowledging the importance of communicating their message to the public, and being sensitive to community concerns.

Since the early 1980s, another model called problem-oriented policing has become popular. The police have been encouraged to move away from dealing with individual crime events in isolation, to spot overall patterns of crimes. Once these patterns are identified—nowadays assisted by technology such as computerised mapping of high-crime ‘hot spots’ and ‘hot times’—the police are in a good position to focus on prevention.

The emphasis is on prevention: while arrests are made they are not necessarily the main aim. Reducing the incidence of crime might be considered more important.

Restorative community policing is another trend. Rather than primarily concentrating on punishing the criminal, police focus is on fixing the harm that a specific criminal event has caused. The offender is encouraged to face their victim, and see the harm that has been done, through (supervised? Controlled?) ‘diversionary conferences’. It’s hoped these forms of ‘re-integrative shaming’ will make offenders less inclined to repeat-offend, and make victims and their families and friends more satisfied that justice has been done.

11. Zero tolerance

In New York, the authorities noted how much crime was made possible by offenders travelling on the subway. Apart from their other crime, usually these offenders did not pay a fare. By enforcing fare payment the authorities were able to block offenders’ ability to get around. The police also enforced laws for minor ‘quality of life’ offences such as public urination, washing windscreens at traffic lights and littering. Many of those people arrested for minor offences turned out to be wanted for more serious offences. The arrests for minor offences also appeared to have discouraged the carrying of firearms. Interest in this approach has been sparked by the fact that in the last five years crime has fallen by 3 per cent, and homicides by 12 per cent.

Out of this experience came the phrase ‘zero tolerance’. Zero tolerance originally meant focusing on lesser crimes and misdemeanours to catch those criminals doing bigger crimes.

It’s not clear how easily zero tolerance can be applied in Australia. We do not have the same scale of urban crime problems, ‘no-go’ areas, or firearms possession.

Other factors may have operated in New York. Many crime rates (there is no one ‘crime rate’) were coming down throughout the country. In New York the lowering crime rate may have been due also to economic prosperity, the decline in the crack cocaine market, an ageing population and improvements in employment.

Nevertheless, the phrase has much popular appeal. Zero tolerance is often extended to mean a ‘get tough with everything’ approach. Police, politicians and the public sometimes use the term but mean something different.

12. Sentencing

Sentencing is the time at which a person found guilty of committing a crime is given their penalty.

The purpose of sentencing

Traditionally, the purpose of sentencing has been to balance a variety of factors, including:

• deterring crime—by showing the community what will happen to them if they commit a criminal act and are caught
• restricting offenders (through incapacitation) to prevent further crime
• punishment—by demonstrating the community’s disapproval of criminal conduct by imposing a penalty
• rehabilitation—based on the idea that it is possible, given the right conditions, to convert criminals into law-abiding citizens.

Different kinds of penalties

Depending on the state or territory, there are a variety of sentencing options available at each court level.

Critical factors considered by judges and magistrates include the seriousness of the offence and past offending history. Different kinds of penalties include:

• diversion (for example, from jail into a program)
• fine
• good behaviour bond
• probation order
• suspended sentence
• community service
• home detention
• periodic detention
• imprisonment

13. Prisons

How many prisoners are in prison in Australia?

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, as of June 2003 the prison population was as follows:

• There were 23,555 prisoners in Australia. The rate of imprisonment was 153 prisoners per 100,000 adults. The rate had increased since 2000 when it was 147 prisoners per 100,000 adults.
• Indigenous prisoners made up 21 per cent of the prisoner population in Australia and the imprisonment rate for Indigenous adults was 15 times the rate for the non-Indigenous population.
• In terms of sex and age, males made up 93 per cent of the total prison population. About 55 per cent of all prisoners were males aged between 20 and 34 years.

What is it like to be in prison?

If you’ve never been to a prison, it may not be possible to easily convey what prison is like. If possible, invite a speaker from a prisoner support group.

Prisons differ. Many were built in the nineteenth century, for a much smaller prison population. Some have been built more recently to high-tech specifications. Whether they are dingy or fluorescent, they hold two things in common: the lock is on the outside of the cell door; and other people always have a say as to what prisoners do and when they do it.

Here might be a typical day in an average gaol. Allow for the fact that prisoners are put back into their cells well ahead of official time, in order that the last one is in their cell by the appointed time.

Conditions for prisoners vary between prisons. There are also different intensities of supervision between minimum and maximum security.

Remand centres are separate from prisons because they serve a different purpose. Remand centres are for people awaiting trial who cannot obtain or cannot afford bail. They are considered innocent until proven guilty. They are not to be considered convicted prisoners but, due to overcrowding, some of those people placed on remand are housed in prisons, awaiting placement in a remand centre.

Of special concern is the high level of Aboriginal incarceration. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (Prisoners in Australia 2003), Indigenous people are much more likely to be imprisoned than non-Indigenous people (15 times the rate for the non-Indigenous population). Along with other social indicators (such as health, education and employment outcomes), these high imprisonment rates suggest that a crime prevention strategy should focus on the relevant risk factors.

Another contentious issue is drugs in prisons. Many people are puzzled as to how drugs can get into prisons. A few observations are: (a) human ingenuity—after all, prisoners have a lot of time on their hands, in their cells, to think of ways; (b) even the most ‘impregnable’ electronic prisons built in the United States do not seem to be able to stop drugs being smuggled in; and (c) drugs are a way for some people ‘doing time’ to be temporarily ‘somewhere else’.

For these reasons, many prisons have drug counsellors to help prisoners work through their addictions or former addictions. Many prisoners are able to use their time in prison to get ‘clean’ and to prepare for life outside, without drugs.

If your group is interested in discussing drug-related crime issues, consider the Drug-related crime module.

Futures? The electronic mega-prison ($70–100 million)

Potential benefits

• Prison officer staffing is cut significantly. The cost of staff is greatly reduced by high-tech methods of surveillance, including the use of cameras, sniffer dogs, and the bio-system of security-checking.
• The system will be electronically ultra-secure, yet visitors and professionals will be free to move through with ease.
• Such prisons will be capable of housing more than 700 inmates, with the potential for expansion.

Potential problems, based on Australian experience

• Officers and inmates soon become frustrated by the technology, having difficulty even performing simple tasks such as opening doors.
• There can be unrealistic and repeated delays in physically reaching prisoners for professionals providing psychiatric assessments, welfare, education or alcohol and other drug counselling.
• Preparation and delivery of food is slowed significantly.
• The size is contrary to the 1978 NSW Nagle Report which recommended, ‘Mega prisons ... should not be built ... Any new prison or any of the older prisons to be redesigned should cater for 200 to 300 inmates. Any smaller number is economically wasteful, any larger number does not permit proper knowledge and handling of the inmates.’
• Over-reliance on electronic aids as an alternative to officers on the ground becomes counter-productive. Prisoners lose social skills, leaving them unprepared for the world after release. Prison officers can no longer observe so closely who’s on edge and who isn’t. It becomes harder to defuse conflict.
• If an officer is overpowered by an inmate, it can be seen on security camera, but the barriers prevent a response within 10 minutes.
• Similarly, if a prisoner attempted suicide by hanging it could take 10 minutes to reach them.
• The Nagle Royal Commission anticipated this in 1978 when the government was warned that ‘Television (closed circuit TV) is an aid to the custodial officer and not necessarily a substitute for him’.

14. Probation and parole

A magistrate or judge may decide to place a convicted criminal under supervision, known as probation. A convicted person who does not fulfil the conditions of their probation, or who re-offends, has to appear back in court for breach of the probation order.

Parole occurs after someone has been sent to prison. A prisoner may serve a minimum period of setence and then become eligible for parole, which is a conditional release. But parole is generally not an automatic right. The granting of parole is usually dependent on the prisoner’s good behaviour. This incentive to behave well can make it easier for corrective services officers to manage prisons, apart from the actual benefit to the prisoner.

Depending on the resources given to probation and parole officers, convicted offenders can be assisted in the community with such as things as accommodation, family relations and employment.

The actual role of the probation and parole officer has varied over time. Some people believe the job works best when the officer has a roving brief and visits people in their home environment; others believe it should be a ‘desk job’ where parolees turn up for a half-hour interview.

15. Diversionary conferencing

Diversionary conferencing has attracted widespread support because it is viewed as embracing the ideals of healing and restoration, empowering offenders, victims and families, conceiving of young people as integral members of a family and a community, and linking with traditional notions of Indigenous justice.

Diversionary conferencing offers offenders an alternative to being charged and attending court if they agree to discuss and resolve the offence. Rather than proceed with the formal criminal process, offenders who have acknowledged the offence are required to meet with their victims in the presence of family and community members or significant peers. The process is designed to produce an apology and perhaps some form of material redress.

These often highly emotional meetings take roughly 90 minutes (compared to around 10 minutes for court cases). They usually address issues in this order:

1. what the offender did
2. the harm it caused
3. the worse harm it could have caused
4. ways to repair the harm
5. a written agreement between the conference participants, including what the offender will do to repair the harm.

The three hopes for diversionary conferencing are that:

1. both offenders and victims find conferences to be fairer than court
2. there will be less repeat-offending after a conference than after a court intervention
3. the public costs of providing a conference are no greater than, and perhaps less than, the costs of processing offenders in court.

There is anecdotal evidence that most victims find conferences ‘fairer’ than court. (we couldn’t find a source for this statement) Evaluations of conferencing schemes have been undertaken in the ACT as part of the Reintegrative Shaming Experiments (RISE), and in South Australia through the South Australian Juvenile Justice (SAJJ) research. The New South Wales Department of Juvenile Justice is undertaking an evaluation of the Youth Offenders Act (1997). In 2000 the New South Wales Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research undertook an evaluation of youth justice conferencing.⁵ The Australian Institute of Criminology has a comprehensive collection of articles on diversionary conferencing at www.aic.gov.au/publications/lcj/family/index.html

16. Victims of crime

How do we in the community respond to people who have been victimised by a criminal act?

Crime After Crime: Repeat Victims Are The New Weapons In Police Campaign

When Frank Morgan explains the difference between houses rated ‘gold’, ‘silver’ or ‘bronze’, he’s not talking real estate values. The criminologist is explaining a British crime prevention project that has been emulated in Australia. In this context, gold means ‘burgled several times’.

The project, done in the mid-’90s in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, was based on a concept that criminologists call ‘repeat victimisation’–the phenomenon by which a relatively small proportion of people fall victim to a disproportionate number of crimes.

In Britain, 4 per cent of people are the victims of 44 per cent of crimes. In Australia, according to the Australian Institute of Criminology’s first report on the subject, done in 1998, more than half of all property crimes occurred in just a quarter of all households, while 41.3 per cent of people fell victim to two-thirds of all the personal assaults committed. One-in-four household robbery victims will be burgled again within the next year.

In the Huddersfield program, gold houses were fitted with high-tech security camera and alarm equipment, and visited daily by ‘police watch’, while possessions were marked with special chemicals that came off on robbers’ hands. Silver houses, victims of one repeat burglary, received an alarm, a loan of temporary security equipment, and twice-weekly police watch visits. Bronze houses received a letter of advice, repairs and security upgrades. Burglary rates fell overall by 30 per cent and theft from cars dropped 20 per cent.

The project was repeated in Beenleigh, south of Brisbane, but only the rate of repeat burglaries fell.

According to Dr Adam Graycar, director of the Australian Institute of Criminology, the prevention of ‘repeat victimisation’ offences could radically cut the crime rate.

He says: ‘It is a very important tool in crime prevention. If we randomly target 1000 previously unvictimised households, we can expect to prevent around 83 household burglaries and motor vehicle thefts. But if we select 1000 previously victimised households, we can expect to prevent around 287 crimes.’

The report showed that the most likely repeat victim of crime was a young male aged 15–24, while young women were more likely to be assaulted than older men.

‘The stereotype of the little old lady who’s been mugged several times doesn’t reflect reality,’ said Melbourne University senior lecturer in criminology Dr Adam Sutton. ‘In fact, repeat victimisation dissolves the neat political division between offenders and victims. Some people who are chronically victimised are also involved in offending.’

In Britain, a succession of police and government projects have used the targeting and protection of potential victims as a measure to cut the incidence of burglary and domestic violence. In the latest anti-burglary program police in Liverpool are ‘teaching’ victims how to avoid becoming repeat victims.

In Australia, police programs in Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia have run local versions of the ‘gold, silver and bronze’ Huddersfield experiment. South Australian police have also recently set up a program aimed at cutting the incidence of domestic violence. It involves increasingly intense levels of police attention each time a call for help is received from the same woman.

According to criminologist Frank Morgan, who has helped evaluate the South Australian police projects, Australian police are, in general, less eager than their British counterparts to embrace the theory of ‘repeat victimisation’ as a crime prevention measure.

‘It is difficult to persuade police to (adopt) something new, and they are oriented to offender-based processes ...’

At Melbourne University, a psychologist is studying crime victims to assess whether the treatment they received after the crime affects their chances of becoming ‘repeat victims’.

Dr Grant Devilly, a senior lecturer in the university’s department of criminology, has already done one assessment of the 35 people, mostly assault victims, who volunteered for the survey. The victims were questioned in detail about their state of mind, and about the kind of ‘intervention’–counselling, intervention orders, or financial compensation–they received.

‘We will follow them up in three months and then in two years,’ says Dr Devilly.

‘We don’t know what increases or decreases the likelihood of revictimisation. We are still working on that,’ he said. ‘But if you are revictimised, problems (such as fear, anxiety, depression and phobia reactions) are likely to become chronic.’

ATTACKED

Victimisation of Victorians 2000-2001 (crimes include robbery, car theft, and personal assault)

199,607 people were victims of crime once
23,414 people were victims twice
3741 were victims three times
870 were victims four times
274 were victims five times
270 were victims more than five times

• Repeat victimisation is highest in areas of highest crime
• If revictimisation occurs, it tends to do so soon after a previous incident
• The greater the number of previous victimisations, the more likely the victim will endure future crime

VICTIM #1

Zak’s 1976, mint condition, British racing green Kingswood station wagon had already been stolen twice. The third time, the 27-year-old consultant sprang the offender sitting in the front seat ready to drive off.

‘I was out with a mate in South Melbourne near the casino and we realised that there was someone in the car. There was a bit of a stand-off and he just rolled up his tools that were neatly lined up on the bench seat of the car,’ he said. ‘It was pretty unnerving seeing someone else in your car. There could have been some sort of physical threat.’

The first time Zak’s car was stolen was in the inner-city suburb of Collingwood. He thought he’d forgotten where it was parked.

‘It just didn’t occur to me that anyone would want to steal my car,’ he said, ‘I thought that only flashy cars get stolen.’

The second time the car was stolen from St Kilda, the day after the St Kilda Festival.

Zak is philosophical about the repeat theft of his car: ‘It’s an easy car to break into. I spend a lot of time in the inner suburbs of Melbourne, you just have to accept it.’

VICTIM #2

‘Jane’ once found herself cornered in a room facing a man with a drawn sword. ‘I thought this could well be the end of my life,’ said the 42-year-old mother of three. Jane is a repeat victim of domestic violence.

After taking her children and leaving an abusive 12-and-a-half-year marriage, two years later Jane found herself in a disturbingly similar relationship.

‘Even though I knew I should have ended the relationship,’ Jane said of her former husband, ‘I couldn’t because I needed some help.’

In Jane’s view, her situation was not helped by the response of the police. ‘I was in serious fear of my life and serious fear for the safety of my children and I was seeking help from the police and they put me in this category of whingeing woman, another domestic violence situation that they don’t want to get involved in. To have to fight against them to achieve some sense of safety is just ludicrous.’

The idea of repeat victimisation is one that has played on Jane’s mind. ‘I really started to look at myself and think “what is it about me, I’m such an honest person”,’ she said. ‘I’m a very soft, kind, compassionate person. Now, when I think about it all, I just feel it’s easier for me not to get involved with men. I really don’t think I’m strong enough to stand up to people like this.’

Although Jane has been the victim of two abusive relationships, she still talks about the strength she has gained from the experience of repeat abuse.

‘I’ve learnt a lot and I feel very strongly about the issue of domestic violence and educating women about it,’ she said.

But ‘I still don’t feel emotionally strong. I feel that I could very easily fall victim to this type of relationship again.’

Sunday Age 10 March 2002

During the 1990s the legal system began to acknowledge the need for more support for victims of crime. But the notion of ‘victims of crime’ can have different practical implications for different people, such as:

• state compensation payments having to be given to victims who have suffered criminal acts
• greater sanctions against offenders being demanded by people directly affected by crime
• requests for victim impact statements to be integrated into court proceedings
• recognition of the usefulness of diversionary conferencing in healing aspects of hurts felt by victims and their families.

Wind-up

The last part of each learning circle session is an opportunity to reflect on what has been learnt, evaluate how the session has gone, and allocate any tasks the group agrees need to be done before the next session. You might find it useful to sum up your discussion under the following headings:

Difficult points

• Are there any areas where you need more information? You might like to invite a guest speaker or find more information from an expert group or government department. Don’t forget local libraries, community groups and the Internet.
• Briefly summarise those areas where you have agreed to disagree. This will identify minority views as still being valid.

Decisions

• Is there anything that the whole group has decided about your discussion?
• Is there anything you would like to do differently next time?
• Did you achieve what you had hoped?
• Is there any other action you want to take? This might include contacting your local council or politicians about an issue the group thinks important, or it might be sharing a meal or watching a video.

Finally

• Remember to collect articles for a local media file.

Additional Resources

More information

Australian Bureau of Statistics Crime Statistics: Crime and Safety, April 2002 (released June 2003); Recorded Crime - Victims 2003 (released 27 May 2004).
ABS website: http://www.abs.gov.au/.

Australian Institute of Criminology has a wide range of information and statistics on law and justice at http://www.aic.gov.au/.

Attorney-General’s Department, Criminal Justice Division
http://www.ag.gov.au/www/criminaljusticeHome.nsf

For information about the Australian legal system and Australian legislation, see the Law and justice portal, maintained by the Australian Government Attorney-General’s Department, Australian Law Online at http://www.law.gov.au/

For a directory of Australian Community Legal Centres see the Australasian Legal Information Institute’s website at
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/clc/.

Australian Law Reform Commission:
http://www.alrc.gov.au/.

Weatherburn, Don and Indermaur, David 2004. Public perceptions of crime trends in New South Wales and Western Australia. Crime and justice bulletin no 80
http://www.agd.nsw.gov.au

Crime and race

Ethnic Communities Council of NSW, Ethnicity and Crime Under the Microscope (Dispelling the Myths) Forum Papers, November 1998. Contact: ECC NSW, 221 Cope Street Waterloo NSW 2017, Ph (02) 9384 4900.

Poynting, Scott 2002. The racialisation of crime, paper presented to Beyond these walls: advancing Australia fairly seminar, 18 October 2002
http://www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/adb/aaf.nsf/pages

Australasian Police Multicultural Advisory Bureau website
http://www.apmab.gov.au/

Mukherjee, S 1999, Ethnicity and crime: an Australian research study
http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/ethnicity-crime/

Prisons and corrections

Corrections in Australia
http://www.aic.gov.au/research/corrections/

Private Prisons Information Action Kit, People’s Justice Alliance, PO Box 1567 Collingwood 3066, People’s Justice Alliance, PO Box 1567 Collingwood 3066.

Papers from the conference organised by the Australian Institute of Criminology in conjunction with the Probation and Community Corrections Officers’ Association Inc.
http://www.aic.gov.au/conferences/probation/

Restorative justice

Centre for Restorative Justice, Australian National University
http://www.crj.anu.edu.au/

Restorative justice in Australia for a listing of online resources on restorative justice and conferencing.
http://www.aic.gov.au/rjustice/

Victims of crime

Restoration for victims of crime: contemporary challenges (1999)
Papers from the conference organised by the Australian Institute of Criminology and the Victims Assistance and Referral Service
http://www.aic.gov.au/conferences/rvc/

Victim assistance online: a comprehensive resource center
http://www.vaonline.org/
(includes links to Australian sources)

Policing

Australasian Centre for Policing Research
http://www.acpr.gov.au/

Grabosky, P N 1998, Zero tolerance policing
http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/tandi/tandi102.html

Police in Australia
http://www.aic.gov.au/policing/

Findlay, Mark 2004. Introducing policing: challenges for police & Australian communities. South Melbourne: Oxford University Press

Enders, Mike and Dupont, Benoit (eds) 2001. Policing the lucky country. Annandale NSW: Hawkins Press

Sentencing

Potas, Ivan 2003. Circle sentencing in New South Wales: a review and evaluation. Sydney: Judicial Commission of New South Wales. Monograph series (Judicial Commission of New South Wales) no 22

Spigelman, James 2002. Fair criminal sentencing: let us be the judge. Sydney Morning Herald 31 February 2002

Schetzer, Louis and Sandor, Danny 2000. Mandatory sentencing: why it is unacceptable: the impact of mandatory sentencing in the Northern Territory and Western Australia. Sydney: National Children’s and Youth Law Centre

ACT Department of Justice and Community Safety 2002. Sentencing review: issues paper. Canberra : JACS.
http://www.jcs.act.gov.au/eLibrary/Sentencing%20Review/IssuesPaperSept2002.pdf

Victims

Victim Services New South Wales
http://www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/

Justice Tasmania Victims Assistance Unit
http://www.justice.tas.gov.au/

Northern Territory Victims Support Unit
http://www.nt.gov.au/

Western Australia Department of Justice support for victims
http://www.justice.wa.gov.au/portal/server.pt/gateway/

ABS, Crime and Safety 2002, released 2003, p. 5.

The Law Handbook (WA) Third Edition, Sussex St Community Law Service, 1993.

Steering Committee for the Review of Commonwealth/state Service Provision 2004, Report on Government Services Volume 1: Education, Justice, Emergency Management. Productivity Commission: Canberra. http://www.pc.gov.au/gsp/reports/rogs/

Australian Bureau of Statistics 2004, Recorded Crime - Victims 2003. Australian Bureau of Statistics: Canberra.

Australian Bureau of Statistics, Prisoners in Australia 2003, released 2004, at http://www.abs.gov.au

Trimboli, Lily 2000. An evaluation of the NSW Youth Justice Conferencing Scheme. Sydney : BOCSAR
http://www.agd.nsw.gov.au