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Date: November 25, 2024 Mon
Time: 8:13 pm
Time: 8:13 pm
Results for racially motivated crimes
1 results foundAuthor: Newitt, Esther: Tasmania Law Reform Institute Title: Racial Vilification and Racially Motivated Offences Summary: In 2009 and 2010 there was an apparent increase in the number of racially motivated attacks on immigrants and international students in Australia. Whether these incidents were in fact racially motivated or merely opportunistic attacks on those who were vulnerable by reason of shift/late night work and dependence on public transport is a matter of continuing debate. What is clear, however, is that these attacks raised considerable safety concerns among minority groups in Australia and damaged Australia’s reputation as a tolerant multi-cultural society and a safe destination for international students and immigrants from diverse ethnic backgrounds. Against this background, the death of an Asian student studying at the University of Tasmania prompted the Vice-Chancellor of the University to ask the Tasmania Law Reform Institute to undertake a project examining the capacity of Tasmanian laws to address racial vilification and racially motivated offences. In particular, the Vice-Chancellor asked whether there was a need to make changes to the criminal law, such as the enactment of criminal racial vilification offences. At about the same time, the Tasmanian Greens Party wrote to the Attorney-General of Tasmania requesting that the Institute be provided with a reference in relation to extending Tasmania’s antidiscrimination laws to ensure that racial vilification constitutes a criminal offence. The Board of the Institute accepted the Vice-Chancellor’s reference in August 2009. Racial vilification is a broad term that involves more than simply judging others as inferior because of their perceived race or ethnicity, or discriminating against them on such grounds. The term ‘racial vilification’ is generally used to refer to offensive and abusive comments or acts which either express, demonstrate or incite hatred and contempt for individuals on the grounds of their race or ethnicity. Other terms, such as ‘racial hatred’, ‘hate propaganda’ and ‘hate speech’ may be used to describe such behaviour. In this Report, ‘racial vilification’ is intended to cover all possible acts that may fall under any of these terms. This Report reviews the current Tasmanian laws that are relevant to the issues of racial vilification and racially motivated offences, describes the applicable Commonwealth laws and includes a consideration of International Conventions and Declarations and their application to Australian domestic law. The Report also includes a brief survey of the legal changes in other jurisdictions that have been introduced to address the problem of racial vilification and racially motivated offences. The need for reform is then considered and finally the Report recommends which reform options are seen as the most effective and appropriate for Tasmania. In making these recommendations, the Institute has given detailed consideration to all responses to the Issues Paper it received. One of the major issues raised in the Issues Paper was whether Tasmania should make racial vilification a criminal offence, and if so, whether it should introduce new provisions in the existing Anti-Discrimination Act 1998 (Tas), the Police Offences Act 1935 or the Criminal Code. In considering this issue, a number of key questions were asked. These questions formed the basis of the majority of responses received by the Institute. Details: Hobart, Tasmania: Tasmania Law Reform Institute, 2011. 67p. Source: Internet Resource: Final Report No. 14: Accessed April 28, 2011 at: http://www.law.utas.edu.au/reform/documents/RV_Final_Report.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Australia URL: http://www.law.utas.edu.au/reform/documents/RV_Final_Report.pdf Shelf Number: 121569 Keywords: Bias CrimesHate Crimes (Tasmania)Minority GroupsRacially Motivated Crimes |