I met Judge Frank Vincent around 16 years ago when we were looking to bring in Victim Impact Statements, as I found a lot of
opposition coming from the judicial bench and defense barristers. I asked Frank what he thought about V.I.S. and he replied that he saw the families of the victims in court and that he knew what they were going through, the pain, the suffering.

I then said, that he made us aware of that in his court, but that many of his fellow judges didn’t (they were all blokes in the Supreme Court then).

He looked at me with that twinkle only he can get in his eyes, and said that I was right and with that encouragement, we went out and got V.I.S. into our courts.

Now talking about courts being blokes, a barrister who is good at what he does, and you wonder how he sleeps at night, came out and said at a cartel gathering “if you haven’t got testicies you stand a better chance of becoming a judge”, causing well known libertarian and now Judge Felicity Hampel to walk out…Poor old Felicity, no balls no guts!

Now I have to agree for once with that law rat barrister. Even those with testes, 80% of judges have no balls when it comes to sentencing.

Enjoy what Frank has to say it is so true…

Retired judge says some judges intellectually, temperamentally unsuited

Geoff Wilkinson
From: Herald Sun
July 31, 2010 12:00AM

SOME judges were intellectually or temperamentally unsuited to the job, a retired senior Supreme Court judge said.

Frank Vincent said some judges stayed too long in the job and “get sour”.

Others, he said, “suddenly decide they’re infallible and don’t want to listen because they know it all”.

Mr Vincent said there were four kinds of judges, ranging from those who were “good-hearted but not very bright” to those “temperamentally unsuited but very smart”.

Mr Vincent, who was one of Victoria’s most experienced and respected judges, made the controversial comments while endorsing a government review of the judicial appointment process.

He supported the need for a method to identify a potential judge’s fitness for office.

“We need to have a process by which the temperament of a judge and their capacity to deal with the balance between power and responsibility can be properly assessed,” he said.

“You need people with proper legal training to handle the task, and people with the personality and the right kind of approach to the performance of the role. I regard that as more important than how smart they are.”

Attorney-General Rob Hulls yesterday released a discussion paper on plans to make judges better trained, better skilled and healthier.

New judges and magistrates, who are appointed until the age of 70, could face physical and mental health checks as part of the selection process.

Mr Vincent retired from the Court of Appeal last year after reaching the compulsory retirement age, which he described at the time as “the age of statutory senility”.

But he now says arbitrary age limits were not sensible.

“I have known several judges who have reached what might be described as their use-by date well before the arbitrary age, and others who were perfectly capable of continuing on and doing the job afterwards,” he said.

Mr Vincent said the four kinds of judges were:

GOOD-hearted but not very bright individuals who were unlikely to do anything terribly wrong.

GOOD-hearted people of good personality who were bright and made good judges.

NASTY individuals who were not very bright, but who could be handled most of the time through the appeal process.

THOSE who were temperamentally unsuited but very smart – a serious problem for any legal system.

Mr Vincent was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1985 and the Court of Appeal in 2001.

He said both sides of politics had been guilty of selecting judicial officers who were unsuited to the job. “Governments make their own style of appointments,” he said.

Mr Hulls has recommended all 180 appointments of judges and magistrates since 1999.

He has been accused of favouring women, and candidates with libertarian or legal aid backgrounds.

Enough of Mickey Mouse justice for murderers, rapists pedophiles and violent thugs!

FIX IT NOW NOT AFTER THE ELECTION and we want it written in stone or we will make them accountable on Election Day!

To victims, supporters, and the communities at large, we cordially invite you all to attend. Bring your signs and lets get our message across that has for so long been ignored by this government and the judiciary.

Hear our victims speak about the travesty of justice imposed on them by a bleeding heart government who put criminals rights first.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Noel McNamara President

Crime Victims Support Association Inc.
“To make Justice a right not Privilege”
PO Box 8150 Ferntree Gully 3156
Telephone (03) 9758 4512 Mobile 0419 897 615
Please visit our Web sites www.cvsa.asn.au or the
Crime Victims Advocate www.observationdeck.org/noel/

One can only wonder what long woolly haired Social Engineer thought this one up in his/hers bleeding heart.

You have to ask yourself will that ratbag and the judiciary be accountable when these deviants re-offend?

London to a brick it will be “not on your Nelly”…

Secret world of our courts

* Katie Bice
* From: Herald Sun
* May 31, 2010 12:00AM

Supreme Court chief justice Marilyn Warren

Supression orders: Justice Marilyn Warren says judges face difficult decisions when making supression orders. Source: Herald Sun

VICTORIA’S courts average one suppression order a day to keep details of killers, evil sex offenders and other criminals secret from the public.

An analysis of publication bans issued across the state show 282 were made by the Supreme, County and Magistrates Courts last year.

The orders include the banning of a verdict in a major murder trial last year and protection of the identities of some of our worst sex offenders.

The County Court issues the most suppression orders, with the number almost tripling from 57 in 2007 to 147 last year.

Do criminals have more legal protection than their victims? Have your say below

So far this year the court has:

BANNED any reporting on at least 13 cases.

PROTECTED the identify of six sex offenders.

ISSUED 15 suppression orders over 20 sitting days in May.

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Peter Faris, QC, said the number of orders made in Victoria was “completely and utterly wrong”.

“The primary interest in criminal justice is to have open courts,” he said.

“If the courts are not open then the public don’t know what is going on and they don’t have faith in the criminal justice system.”

Mr Faris said suppression orders were often made when there wasn’t anyone there to fight for publication.

He said details of a current case banned from publication would shock the public when they were finally revealed.

“That will become a scandal in the future,” he said.

“Firstly the public will be shocked and secondly they will want to know why they were not told in the first place.”

Media lawyer Justin Quill, who acts for the Herald Sun, said there was a perception that Victoria was becoming “suppression city”.

He said defence barristers shouldered some of the blame by asking for suppressions that should never be made.

“That puts a judge or magistrate in a very difficult position,” Mr Quill said.

“The media already spends a great deal of money in opposing inappropriate orders but it simply doesn’t have unlimited resources to oppose all the inappropriate orders being made.”

Mr Quill said publication bans with no end date were a major problem because circumstances change and open-ended orders made today can cause problems for reporting tomorrow.

The Supreme Court, which handles the state’s most serious cases, came in with the lowest suppression figures.

It issued 198 orders over the past three years, 68 of which have since been revoked.

Chief Justice Marilyn Warren said the paramount concern of judges was to ensure fair trials for the accused.

“It is very difficult for judges, as there is a balance to be achieved between the public interest in knowing about the case and the public interest in an accused person having a fair trial,” she said.

- with Elissa Hunt

Now I have to say the criminals number one lawman is (“he is supposed to be on our side, but it is not hard to tell who he bats for”) Rob Hulls…

When I was unfortunate enough to become a member of the club that no one wishes to join…The Homicide Victims…The first bit of information I came across in my research was the jails’ revolving door.

Prisoners received a day off for each day served, in other words 20 years inside meant you were out in 10 years. That of course was brought in by Attorney General at the time Jim Kennon a bleeding heart like Hulls who I think worked in the Kennon Justice Department at the time.

I have to say little has changed with these guys, they are still extremely merciful to violent criminals, and are intent on getting them back on our streets as early as possible.

When provocation was abolished after the uproar regarding the sentence of James Ramage for murdering his wife in cold blood, the up roar from the public made Hulls do a back flip, something he is doing a lot of lately with and election coming up (strangely the back flip changes are after the election, the arrogance of Hulls and Brumby is outrageous).

When Hulls removed provocation from his list he said that the defense of provocation promoted a culture of blaming the victim and has no place in modern society. Well, number one lawman for the criminal Rob Hulls, Defensive Homicide has to be given the boot before the election other wise I know where that well directed boot will be going Rob!

Luke John Middendorp jailed over the stabbing death of Jade Bownds

* Paul Anderson
* From: Herald Sun
* May 19, 2010 11:22AM

*

Luke Middendorp

Luke Middendorp pleaded self-defence over the stabbing death of Jade Bownds.

UPDATE 11.50am: THE mother of a pint-sized woman stabbed to death in the back four times by a man found guilty of defensive homicide has slammed the killers sentence handed down in the Supreme Court today.

Justice David Byrne sentenced Luke John Middendorp to a maximum 12 years’ jail with a minimum of eight for the fatal stabbing of Jade Bownds, 22, at a Brunswick house in September 2008.

Middendorp, 26, has already served 624 days in custody.

The maximum sentence for defensive homicide is 20 years.

“I’m truly disgusted with the system,” Ms Bownds’ mum, Shaye Beck, said outside court after this morning’s sentence.

“It has to be reviewed. It is pathetic that this man gets (effectively) six years for stabbing my daughter in the back four times. I don’t see how anybody could claim that as justice. Most likely we’re going to appeal.

“We’re all still pretty upset. We were definitely hoping for more than that.”

In his sentence, Judge Byrne said: “You are a man of over six feet tall, of some 90 kilograms. She was much smaller and about fifty kilograms.”

Justice Byrne said it appeared that the jury accepted, or perhaps were not prepared to reject, Middendorp’s version that Ms Bownds – his former partner – attacked him with a knife and that he felt at risk of death or or really serious injury.

“You, too, had a knife in your right hand and, in the struggle which ensued, you stabbed her over the shoulder in the back four times,” the judge said.

Ms Bownds staggered out of the house and down the street where she fell and died.

Middendorp was heard to call her a “filthy s–t” and yelled that she got what she deserved.

Justice Byrne said Middendorp’s callous words to the dying woman still chilled his blood.

“Jade Bownds appears to have been a troubled young woman, but she deserved better than the treatment you gave her,” he said.

It has been a long fight by victims family’s to get this right let all use from now on, if you need more information on VIS, please contact me.

Now at it has come to my attention that some parents of murdered loved ones are being directed to sit in the court gallery. This is against the Victims Charter. It is your rights to sit in the body of the court with dignity throughout the trial.

Please take the time to read the following statement from Shaye Beck…

My name is Shaye Beck and I am so very proud to say that I am the mother of Jade Bo Stewart-Bownds. The tragic events that have lead me to stand before you,today and read this statement have by far been the most difficult and painful, that myself and my family have ever had to find the strength to endure. The tragic and needless loss of my daughter Jade devastated us all, and still does to this very day. I don’t even know where to begin to express the pain I hold in my heart. Theres not one single day that goes by that I don’t have a thought of my daughter, and these precious memories are all that’s left to me now.that and a plaque What once was an amazing and beautiful, loving and gentle young women is now and forever more just ashes.that lie in the cold dark ground. When Jade was taken from me a part of me also died that night with her, to wake up every day and have to face yet another day without Jade is still such a struggle for me, my family, and all who knew and loved her. To have my child(my little girl) taken from me and her family at such a young and tender age under such tragic circumstances is something I’ve been forced to live with against my will. I could tell you about Jade as a child or Jade as a teenager or even as a young women, and all the happy, memorable and magical times I have had with my daughter over twenty two years, but you still wouldn’t know her. To you she was just another young women caught up in undesirable domestic situation that led to her death case file number whatever. But to me and her family and the one hundred so people that made the effort and took the time from their jobs and busy lives to attend her funeral to pay there respects and say goodbye, she was a bright light, a warmth, a happy charismatic extremely lovable, funny and deeply caring human being. For which all our lives now will be the poorer for having lost her. And all because of you (LUKE MIDDENDORP) your cowardly act of RAGE, AGGRESSION, OBSESSION, and STUPIDITY. will forever more be the legacy which you have to live with and we pray that it will haunt you as it does us for the rest of your life. I will never feel the comfort of knowing that Jade is in a healthy, loving, happy relationship nor will I ever have the joy of seeing her wedding day, or watch with pride as my little mulligan( as I used to call her) blossoms in to what I am sure would have been an amazing mature woman. At only twenty-two she was an inspiration to me to many, when I thought my life was going badly and that I deserved more than what I had she was always there to listen, never did she complain about how little she had or how she wasn’t getting a fair go. To Jade her family and there happiness and wellbeing meant everything When in truth all the poor kid owned could have fit in a suitcase she never had much and yet she was always happy. Which always brought me back to reality of how lucky I really was. And how rich I was for having this little girl in my life. And in closing I would like to say DEATH IS NOTHING ELSE BUT GOING HOME TO GOD, THE BOND OF LOVE WILL BE UNBROKEN FOR ALL ETERNITY.

SINCERELY Shaye-Aiesha Beck.

Brumby seems to (or wants to) put it down to being all about scumbag and recently departed Carl Williams, and he could not be further from the truth.

Williams and the gangster’s moll Roberta have been bleeding the taxpayers to keep themselves from doing an honest days work like the rest of us who don’t sell drugs of mass destruction to kids. And let’s not forget that a lot of those kids finish up dying shocking deaths from killer drugs.

Now the new Corporation Police Command think it’s like running a corporation, so they take scumbag Carl and his dad from Barwon prison down the coast for a fun weekend.

The moll goes to court on tax charges that somehow get dropped. The moll unlike most of us, doesn’t need a license to drive and gets picked up by police, goes to court and is told not to do it again for the umpteenth time.

Then we have the exclusive grammar school where more taxpayers money goes all to stop the moll from working. What next, a Super box at the MCG and Docklands???!!!

A still serving ex cop from homicide told me they found out no more than they did, with a phone book at no expense to the public, I’ve got to say I have a preference for the phone books.

We don’t have to go to a third world country to see what it looks like when a government loses it’s way with the judiciary, big time crime and violence. We even had the best drug squad that money could buy!

In recent years the state government has a murder rate that per head of population, rivals anywhere in the western world.

We have a very good police force on the ground that is hamstrung by social engineers in the Corporation with a softly softly approach to violence on our streets, and big time criminals chasing the drug trade that is rife in our once splendid city.

Brumby continues to tell us our streets are the safest in Australia as we reach even higher levels of organised crime than ever before. Brumby and his side kick bleeding heart Hulls continue to bury their heads in the sand.

Now we have just had on of our best judges ever retire from the Supreme Court bench. Who better could we have to head up the Independent Crime and Corruption Commission?

Victoria’s courts too soft on criminals says veteran judge Supreme Court Justice Philip Cummins

* Geoff Wilkinson, Norrie Ross
* From: Herald Sun
* February 25, 2010 12:00AM

Justice Philip Cummins

Justice Philip Cummins Source: Herald Sun

ONE of Victoria’s most experienced judges has attacked the state’s courts for being too soft on criminals.

Supreme Court Justice Philip Cummins said the courts had “fallen short on sentence” in cases involving sex offences, violence, and especially domestic violence.

His sentiments were echoed by a veteran magistrate, who this week jailed a seven-time drink driver after lashing out at the leniency shown to him in previous court appearances.

Do you think courts are too lenient? Vote in our poll and have your say in the comments below

Justice Cummins, 70, in his Supreme Court retirement speech to a packed courtroom of judges and lawyers, said: “I think that sentences imposed should better reflect parliamentary provision and community values.”

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He said he had no doubt every judge respected and was concerned for victims.

“(But) with sexual offences, violence, and especially domestic violence, I think courts have fallen short on sentence,” he said.

“Courts need to give significantly more attribution to personal responsibility and to the consequences of that responsibility,” Justice Cummins said.

“The even hand of justice requires that victims properly be acknowledged and properly be respected.”

Courts had failed to translate respect and concern to action, leaving it to the media, Parliament, and commentators.

“It was not the common law or the courts that rid us of the blight of provocation, behind which much domestic and other violence escaped its true consequence,” he said.

Justice Cummins has been widely regarded as a champion of victims’ rights.

Last year, he made a landmark judgment that sex offenders on extended supervision orders should be identified.

Yesterday he again called for open justice, saying: “Judges should not sit behind closed doors, hear parties in the absence of each other, or engage in undue pressure.”

At Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, Rodney Crisp, a magistrate for nearly 25 years, told Michael Sich the public was fed up with drink-drivers being freed on suspended sentences.

He jailed Sich, 39 – who has six prior drink-driving convictions but has twice been freed on suspended sentences – for a year, and disqualified him from driving for 10 years.

“The community won’t tolerate a seven-time drink driver being released. (It) could never stomach it. It would rightly lose all confidence in the system of sentencing,” he said.

Sich appealed but was denied bail and remanded until his appeal hearing on June 17.

- with Wayne Flower

So I now dare to dream of Christmas and that by then, Brumby and Hulls will be gone, as well as their gang of bleeding hearts.

Oh yes, I dare to dream of piss weak judges being dispatched from the bench in great numbers!

Enough of the wrist slapping

* Staff Writer
* From: Herald Sun
* March 21, 2010 6:09PM

TRUTH in jail sentencing, which was recommended by the Sentencing Advisory Council more than three years ago and promised by the Victorian Government by last year, remains a shameful lie.

Victims of violent crimes and their families see offenders walk free from the courts when they should be behind bars.

As reported in today’s Herald Sun, sex offenders, armed robbers, drug traffickers and vicious thugs are among those given fully suspended sentences by the courts.

The latest figures show the state’s higher courts handed out a higher percentage of fully suspended sentences than in any other mainland state.

It is a sorry and unjust law that allows one in four offenders convicted in the Supreme and County courts to go free. They serve not one day in jail.

The percentage is more than four times that of suspended sentences handed out by magistrates and even that figure is too high.

The Crime Victims’ Support Association describes suspended sentences as a disgrace and says Victoria must be the laughing stock of the justice world.

Association president Noel McNamara is right. We are in a state of injustice.

The Herald Sun has campaigned vigorously for an end to this farce and will continue to do so.

Attorney-General Rob Hulls said in 2006 that under proposed reforms “jail means jail”. Not so Mr Hulls.

The reforms have not come and the suspended sentences you said most people regarded as “a slap on the wrist” and a “get out of jail free card” continue.

A review of the use of suspended sentences is due later this year and Premier Brumby and Attorney-General Hulls must move quickly to legislate meaningful changes before the Victorian election in November.

A judge has ruled that a Pennsylvania boy, who was only 11 years old when he was accused of shooting his father’s pregnant girlfriend in the back of the head with a shotgun, will be tried as an adult. Jordan Brown faces first-degree murder charges for both Kenzie Marie Houk and her unborn child.

Brown, 12, could face life in prison if convicted in adult court.

“This offense was an execution-style killing of a defenseless pregnant young mother. A more horrific crime is difficult to imagine,” Lawrence County Judge Dominick Motto said.

Brown is accused of taking his youth-model 20-gauge shotgun into Houk’s bedroom on Feb. 20, 2009 and while she was laying on the bed. She was 8-1/2 months pregnant at the time. Prosecutors said he was jealous of his father’s new girlfriend and her unborn son.

The judge heard evidence and testimony from both the prosecution and the defense before refusing to move the case to juvenile court. Under Pennsylvania law, defense attorneys have to convince the judge that Brown would be more amenable to rehabilitation in the juvenile system.

Evidence the judge considered from the prosecution included:

* Brown wrapped his shotgun in a blanket so that Houk’s 7-year-old daughter would not see it as he walked to Houk’s bedroom.

* He took the spent shells with him and threw them away on the way to school.

* Tests showed the shells were fired from his shotgun.

* He continues to deny to even his own doctors that he shot Houk.

Judge Motto said he relied on prosecution psychiatrist, Dr. John O’Brien’s assessment in making his ruling. O’Brien found that Brown was trying to minimize his wrongdoing and shift blame.

The Herald Sun has learned that six years after the Victims’ Register was set up by the State Government, more than 650 victims have used the scheme.

But victims groups say information is too hard to get.

Families of 101 murder victims, 19 killer drivers, 17 manslaughters and four defensive homicides are tracking their loved ones’ killers behind bars.

Also keeping tabs on their attackers are 156 victims of sex attacks, including 42 rapes, 37 incest attacks, 16 cases of sex with a minor and 61 other sexual assaults.

The victims of 113 other violent crimes including violent burglaries, armed robberies, serious assaults and abductions are also tracking offenders.

he number of people on the register has doubled since culpable driving offences and major parole breaches were added four years ago.

But the 410 people on the register still represent less than 1 per cent of the 43,971 victims of violent crimes in 2008-09.

Crime Victims Support Association president Noel McNamara said the scheme needed better promotion.

He said many victims still called the association wanting details of an offender’s imminent release, unaware the register existed.

“When you’re traumatised and in a court system you’ve never been in before, you find it hard to take in all the things that are happening,” he said.

“They should employ someone to speak to victims.”

Opposition corrections spokesman Andrew McIntosh said while not all victims wished to know of attackers’ movements, information on the register should be routinely given to victims so they could make their own choice.

A Justice Department spokeswoman said the register was the best way for victims to receive information on offenders in jail, under extended supervision, in home detention or under supervision after leaving jail.

Victims are told if an offender is to be paroled and can oppose early release and tell the Parole Board the impact the crimes had on them.

The are also told a prisoner’s earliest release date; if they are given home detention or are eligible for release on rehabilitation and transition permits; if their parole is cancelled; if they are transferred interstate or overseas; and if they escape.

* Peter Mickelburough
* From: Herald Sun
* March 16, 2010 12:00AM