Model Forensic Procedures Bill 2000 - Discussion Paper - May 1999

 

 Publication date: July 2004

 Author: The Review consisted of the Chairman, Mr Tom Sherman AO   and Committee Members: Ms Barbra Luby, Deputy Director, Policy, OFPC; Ms Claire Pitham, Director of Investigations, Commonwealth Ombudsman; Dr James Robertson, National Manager, Forensic and Technical, AFP; and Mr John Thornton, Acting First Deputy Director, CDPP. Ms Linzi Wilson-Wilde and Ms Joannah Lee, of AFP Forensic Services, also attended Committee meetings. The Criminal Justice Division of the Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department provided secretariat support to the Review.

 

On 28 June, 1990, the Standing Committee of Attorneys-General (SCAG) placed the question of the development of a national model criminal code for Australian jurisdictions on its agenda. In order to advance the concept, SCAG established a Committee consisting of an officer from each Australian jurisdiction with expertise in criminal law and criminal justice matters. That Committee was originally known as the Criminal Law Officers Committee, but, in November 1993, the name was changed to the Model Criminal Code Officers Committee (the Committee) in order to reflect the principal remit of the Committee directly.

The first formal meeting of the Committee took place in May 1991 and since then it has developed most of the chapters of the Model Criminal Code. These concern the full range of offences: murder and manslaughter; sexual offences, assault, abduction, theft, fraud, bribery, justice offences like perjury and interfering with witnesses, serious drug offences, contamination of goods and slavery related offences.

In addition to its main task of developing the Model Criminal Code (which will later this year be completed when a report on damage and computer offences is released), the Committee has been asked by SCAG on several occasions to develop model criminal procedural provisions. One of those tasks was to develop a Model Forensic Procedures Bill.

The Committee circulated drafts of a Model Forensic Procedures Bill for public comment during 1994. The Committee received comments from all parts of Australia. It received over 60 detailed submissions. In July 1995, the majority of the Standing Committee of Attorneys-General endorsed the Model Forensic Procedures Bill (1995 Model Bill) and
forwarded a proposal that a legislative platform be established for a national DNA database when Governments are able to establish such a database for consideration by the Australasian Police Ministers Council (APMC).

At much the same time, the Easteal Committee, (which was chaired by Hon Mr Justice Phillips, Chief Justice of Victoria) had been established by APMC to look into the DNA database issue. The Easteal Committee recommended that the 1995 Model Bill be approved and their recommendations were subsequently endorsed by APMC. The work of the Easteal Committee was preceded by a 1990 report requested by the then Minister for Justice, which was prepared by Patricia Easteal of the Australian Institute of Criminology entitled Report to the Australian Police Ministers’ Council on The Forensic Use of DNA Profiling in Australia: Need for a National Database.

Since 1995 the Commonwealth, Victorian and South Australian Governments passed legislation which implements the 1995 Model Bill.¹

_{1 Criminal Law (Forensic Procedures) Act 1998 (SA), Crimes Act 1958 (Victoria) - Part 4 and Crimes Act 1914 (Cth) - Part 1D.}