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Date: April 29, 2024 Mon
Time: 11:07 pm
Time: 11:07 pm
Results for sex offenses (australia
1 results foundAuthor: Victoria (Australia). Department of Justice Title: Review of Sexual Offences: Consultation Paper Summary: Many of Victoria's sexual offence laws are complex, inconsistent and unclear. Nowhere is this problem worse than with the offence of rape. These problems make it extremely difficult, if not impossible, for a judge to explain the law to a jury in a clear and intelligible manner and for the jury to understand and apply the law to the facts in the case. These problems have resulted in numerous appeals, convictions being set aside and retrials being ordered, most notably in Worsnop v The Queen (2010) 28 VR 187 and Getachew v The Queen [2011] VSCA 164. There have been many calls for significant reform of Victoria's rape laws since these decisions. These calls have emanated from the judiciary, lawyers, academics, victim/survivor support groups and the media. The Attorney-General has publicly committed to reforming sexual offence laws and jury directions in order to address the current complexity, inconsistency and uncertainty. Victoria's sexual offence laws are also failing to respond adequately to the problem of persistent sexual abuse of a child. The current approach does not work effectively for child victims/survivors who, because of the repeated and systematic nature of the offending against them, are unable to distinguish between the different instances of abuse. A fresh approach to this problem is needed. While rape laws have been frequently amended in the last 20 years, other sexual offences have not received the same attention. As a consequence, some have become outdated, inconsistent and unclear in their scope, structure and terminology. Other offences fail to recognise that sexual offences can be committed in new ways through advances in technology. This review examines rape and other sexual offences in the Crimes Act 1958, focussing not only on policy issues, but also on the structure and components of each offence. This practical focus is essential for effective reform. Our aim is to make sexual offences as clear, simple, consistent and effective as possible. Simpler and clearer offences will assist judges to direct juries, and juries to understand and apply the law. This will help to reduce successful appeals against conviction for a sexual offence. A better functioning criminal justice system will help to improve the experience of victims/survivors who report a sexual offence to the police. The County Court is Victoria's principal trial court. Almost 50% of all trials that go to verdict in the County Court are sexual offence trials. In 2002/03 only 36% of all trials were sexual offence trials. Over the last 10 years there has been an 81% increase in the number of sexual offence trials. This reflects an increase in the proportion of sexual offence cases as well as an increase in the overall number of trials conducted. Better laws will deliver substantive justice in individual cases and, in combination with other proposed reforms to jury directions, will assist in reducing delay. This paper contains 49 proposals for, and 10 questions about, reform of Victoria's most important sexual offences and procedure. The paper also contains a number of options and questions about possible reforms. The Department of Justice seeks feedback on each of the proposals, options and questions in this paper in order to provide advice to the government on how best to reform sexual offences. Details: Melbourne: Victoria Department of Justice, Criminal Law Review, 2013. 225p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 30, 2013 at: https://assets.justice.vic.gov.au/justice/resources/2b77afcd-3c35-4a89-913a-54ced67529c3/reviewofsexualoffencesconsultationpaper2013.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Australia URL: https://assets.justice.vic.gov.au/justice/resources/2b77afcd-3c35-4a89-913a-54ced67529c3/reviewofsexualoffencesconsultationpaper2013.pdf Shelf Number: 131509 Keywords: Child Sexual AbuseRapeSex OffendersSex Offenses (Australia |