I have to say the previous Government with their long woollier haired social engineers brought in to law some of of the most draconian laws against victims of crime that you would not find any where else in the western world but Defensive Homicide was by far the most outrageous of the lot by far. To cut to the chase, all you had to do was say that you were in danger of getting killed by say Mickey Mouse so you got in first, that in a nut shell was it, thanks to our new Attorney General it is going out the door

CRIME victims and domestic violence lobby groups have led growing calls for the abolition of the state’s defensive homicide law.

But lawyers stood firm in support of the law, which critics say has been used to get lighter sentences for violent men rather than battered women.

The Herald Sun revealed on Friday that only two of the 19 convictions for defensive homicide since the law was introduced in 2005 have involved female defendants.

The Government confirmed it was considering changes to the law.

Attorney-General Robert Clark said the law, introduced by the previous government, was intended to apply in cases of “genuine but unreasonable self-defence”.

“However, the principles underlying the law appear to have been difficult and confusing to apply,” Mr Clark said.

“For these reasons, the Government is examining possible amendments to ensure the law applies as it was originally intended.”

Defensive homicide, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years’ compared to life for murder, applies to someone who claims to have killed in self-defence without a reasonable basis for that belief.

A review of the way the law is being applied has disclosed widespread criticism.

But the Law Institute of Victoria strongly supported the law’s retention. Rob Stary, a spokesman for the institute’s criminal law section, represented both women who successfully argued they had killed as an act of defensive homicide.

He said the women, Karen Black and Eileen Creamer, had both “been subjected to physical and psychological domestic violence over many years.”

Crime Victims Support Association president Noel McNamara said defensive homicide was “the most ridiculous law I’ve ever known”.

“The fact that so many can bash or stab someone to death and pretty much get away with it is just unbelievable,” he said.

A campaigner for the rights of women, Phil Cleary, said that in too many recent cases men who had killed women had been able to walk away with a not guilty verdict to murder.

“In reality, defensive homicide cases run exactly the same as provocation cases did, and defence barristers are still running the same line,” Mr Cleary said.

“The problem with the law has nothing to do with it being too complex. It’s because we turn these violent men into victims in the court room”.

- with Geoff Wilkinson

 

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/more-news/growing-calls-for-defensive-homicide-review/story-fn7x8me2-1226269060175

Hi All,

This years Flight of the Angels will be held at Parliment House, Bourke & Spring Street, Melbourne at 12 pm on Sunday 11th March 2012, as in other years it will be on the front steps. For those who have not been before it is a memorial service for all those who have lost loved ones to homicide or culpable driving, bring a photo of your loved ones to place on the table, and a hellieum filled balloon to be released after each name is read out and at the end we send up the doves, all family members, freinds, and the public are cordially invited to attend.

Registration for the names of our loved ones will start at 11.30am. We have a generator “special thanks to Gwen and Mick”  but if any one has speakers we would love to hear from you. For any more imformation that you may require please call me, looking forward to seeing you all their on the day. 

                          

Noel McNamara

President

Judge Lizzie Curtain does it once again, being a very merciful judge as she has shown us in the past saying all the right words for victims families in summing up the trial, Talks the Talk but when it comes to Walking the Walk Judge Lizzie goes missing. Outrageous, disgusting, and disgraceful, the sooner these weak judges are bench mark on minimum sentencing the beter it will be for victims of violent crimes

Leslie Robinson, 25, of North Melbourne, was yesterday jailed in the Supreme Court for the unprovoked attack on 61-year-old Charbel Satouf on November 16, 2010.

Mr Satouf’s family said they were shocked at the sentences handed down to Robinson and his co-accused, who was jailed for four years earlier this month.

Mr Satouf’s son, Steven, told the Herald Sun the family felt betrayed by the Victorian justice system.

“Its pathetic. We’ve been seriously let down,” Steven Satouf said.

“Robinson could be out in just 10 years. Our old man deserves better than this.”

Mr Satouf suffered extensive injuries from the attack, including a haemorrhage to the brain, broken ribs, a ruptured spleen, a collapsed lung, spinal injuries, a possible fracture to the skull and bites to the ankles from a dog belonging to Robinson.

Robinson approached Mr Satouf in Buncle St, North Melbourne, and started to kick and punch him.

Sentencing Robinson in the Supreme Court yesterday Justice Elizabeth Curtain said that even as the victim lay motionless on the ground, he continued to stomp on his head and body more than 48 times.

Justice Curtain said she took into account that Robinson had a background of “appalling disadvantage”, that his relative youth and expressions of remorse meant there were favourable prospects of rehabilitation.

But the victim’s son claimed Robinson was old enough to take full responsibility for his crime.

“He knew what he was doing, so for a psychologist to say that he has a low IQ and so should be given leniency because of that and his youth, is just not right,” Steven Satouf said.

Mr Satouf’s widow, Laudi, said she was now fearful for her children.

“We’re not happy about this,” she said.

 

Critical of leniency: Retired Supreme Court judge John Nader QC. Picture: Supplied by The New South Wales Bar Association Source: The Sunday Telegraph

A RETIRED Supreme Court judge has accused his younger colleagues of being too reluctant to lock up criminals because they think it’s “cruel”.

While NSW Attorney-General Greg Smith has called for alternatives to jailing offenders, John Nader QC said judges needed to return to a policy of punishing criminals with prison terms for punishment’s sake.

Speaking about what he believes is the lost art of sentencing, Mr Nader said there was a view within the court system that society had “moved beyond” sending offenders to jail.

“Punishment was once recognised as the chief reason for sending offenders to prison,” Mr Nader said. “The failure

to accept it presents a hindrance to developing a more complete rationale for criminal punishments.

“There is a tendency for us modern, enlightened people to think of punishment as in itself cruel and something we have moved beyond. This should be a matter for serious debate.”

Mr Nader, who was a Supreme Court judge and presided over the NSW Legal Professional Conduct Tribunal and Innocence Commission before retiring in 2007, said judges needed greater power to impose sentences without fear of frivolous appeals or government interference.

“The basis of prison sentences should not be locked in legislative concrete but left to the wisdom of experienced judges to determine in the light of their perception of general community standards,” he said.

“Prison sentences should be appealed only if . . . the magnitude (or lack thereof) of the sentence would shock a member of the public.”

The 77-year-old, who took up pro bono work in retirement, said he agreed with criminologists who argued that prison sentences had little, if any, effect on the incidence of crime and that offenders should not be sent to prison as a deterrent to reoffending.

“While criminal sentencing should not be motivated by vengeance or retribution, it should also not be influenced by the view that it was likely to deter a criminal from committing a crime,” he said.

He also said judges should be able to arrive at a sentence based on an impression of a case rather than having to detail how they came to arrive at a judgment.

As a result, he said there needed to be a return to appointing judges who could command respect.

“There were once many such and I am sure that there are still a considerable number,” Mr Nader said. “The criminal courts should not continue to be a jurisdiction where any judge at all is regarded as good enough to preside.

“A wise judge is much more valuable than a clever one.”

The comments, published in what Mr Nader described as a “sincere criticism of the Court of Criminal Appeal of NSW” in the latest edition of the NSW Bar Journal, come at the same time as Mr Smith has come under fire for ordering a Law Reform Commission to keep people out of jail.

Hardline A-G hits back at his critics

Anna Patty

February 3, 2012

• Read later

It didn’t take long for the vitriol over the state government’s approach to law and order to start.

Ten months after the NSW election, the opposition and tabloid media have been dishing it out to the Attorney-General, Greg Smith, accusing him of being soft on crime.

One radio talk-back host recently accused Smith of being a step away from the Greens, saying he had failed to earn his stripes as a conservative Attorney-General.

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When it comes to the rehabilitation of non-violent offenders, Smith would agree.

He says he is “more left-wing on issues like dealing with prisoners and rehabilitation than any other Attorney-General in the country”.

But Smith, reputed as a tough public prosecutor when he worked for the DPP – having put away murderers including those who killed policeman David Carty – is hardline when it comes to serious violence.

In response to a recent spate of drive-by shootings in Sydney’s south-west, the opposition and some commentators have confused the distinction Smith has made between his different approaches to sentencing and rehabilitation.

He believes in non-custodial sentences for less serious offenders and rehabilitation for people with drug and alcohol addiction or mental health problems.

When it comes to people guilty of serious violent crime, including the “buffoons” responsible for the shootings, repeat offenders and those guilty of child sex offences, Smith wants to toughen punishments.

Smith recently asked the Supreme Court to look at how judgments against people convicted of sex offences against children could be strengthened.

The government is grappling with how it can fight gang violence and has recruited the Crime Commission’s help in compelling witnesses to help police with their investigations.

The acting Police Commissioner, Nick Kaldas, has complained about police being unable to compel victims of crime and witnesses to help police with their investigations.

The first charge to be laid against a person who had allegedly pulled the trigger was made at the weekend. Until then, police had only been able to charge accessories to the drive-by shooting crimes.

The government has ruled out giving police crime commission powers to compel witnesses to co-operate, but believes the answer to the problem may lie in strengthening existing provisions in the Crimes Act to prevent bikie-gangs from consorting.

The Rees government introduced anti-bikie gang legislation which was struck out by the High Court last year.

Other states including South Australia and Queensland have had problems in drafting similar laws.

According to the Law Society, there were numerous problems with the NSW version and it would take more than mere “tinkering”, as asserted by the Opposition, to address them.

Smith says the government response to the problem would not be an “over-the-top knee-jerk” one after parliament returns on February 14.

Opposition Leader John Robertson has attacked the government for being slow to act and his recent press release said “another day, another drive by – 59 shootings in 10 months – where is Barry O’Farrell?”. Today it updated the figure to 60 after shots were fired at a school in Lurnea.

What the opposition fails to mention is that the number of drive-by shootings peaked at 102 in 12 months under Labor, from October 2008 to September 2009.

There have been an average of 73 to 78 drive-by shootings each year since 2006.

Acting Commissioner Kaldas says that, while the number has been higher in previous years, police are concerned about getting on top of the latest spike of shootings.

Smith says he refuses to buckle to media pressure and the opposition’s fear mongering to provide a knee-jerk response.

When it comes to less serious offences, Smith believes the jailing of adults and remanding of children was corrupting many and increasing their chances of reoffending, creating a bigger problem for the community.

He says he wants to challenge “the political correctness” of the law and order bidding war.

Smith started the fight in opposition when he vowed to end the law and order auction – the tradition whereby each side of politics tries to outbid the other on how tough it can be on crime.

Smith says he has been preparing for this battle for some time and is up to fighting.

“I’m not going to just give up because of a bit of criticism. And the Premier is right behind me. We want to be smart on crime.”

The promises to increase punishments, which have characterised every state election campaign since 1988, have filled jails, but have done little to reduce the rate of reoffending.

The Carr government filled multiple statute books with its promises to jack up punishments for high-profile crimes.

More often than not, those responses led to ill-considered policies which have clogged the jail system and drained state government coffers.

During his time at the department of public prosecutions, Smith was frustrated with overly complex sentencing laws and it was this that led him into politics. As Attorney-General, he has directed the Law Reform Commission to review those laws.

This review was on the government’s agenda before the election and is not linked to the government’s response to drive-by shootings, as asserted by critics.

Labor failed to find a solution to bikie gang violence. Whether the Liberal/National Coalition has more success remains to be seen.

Anna Patty is a Herald State Political Reporter.

 

 

 

 

 

AustraliapleasepleasebeCareful1

This 82-year-old grandfather John Lynch may never leave a nursing home again after a sickening attack in Carrum last Tuesday. He was brutally bashed with what police suspect was a blunt object despite complying with the young Gutless scumbag demands for his wallet.
This crime is absolutly discusting, why continue to bash someone who most visibly unable to defend themselfs, even after they have given you what you wanted, the extent of crime and violence these days is disgusting. This poor man is now in a nursing home and has had his independance and trust taken away from him from some thug who proberly hasn’t thought twice about it since. Here’s hoping they have some video footage somewhere to put this person away for a very long time, because this dear elderly man has now been given a blow that may very well put him away now in to care, instead of enjoying his independance.

Friday is white Ribbon Day to support Families and Victims of Domestic Violence. The following article is just ONE tragic story of many womens lives that HAS been told, there are so many women out there who don’t get their stories told. Women who are scared or afraid of their abusers, familys and community opinions. Domestic Violence is never ok, whether it be of a woman, man or child, in this article the lives of her children and parents have forever been affected, as is in many of these situation. Community awarness and support is needed for these women &  families, not judgement and shame, harder longer sentences are needed for these abusers.  The walk Against Family Violence starts at 2.30pm in City Square allong with entertainment and speakers at Fed Square.

 

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/opinion/we-must-put-an-end-to-the-violent/story-fn56b2fi-1226200067304