Breaking the code of silence : the Wood Royal Commission into New South Wales police : a brief overview

The three-volume Final Report of the Wood inquiry into NSW Police (Royal Commission Into the New South Wales Police Service, 'Final Report, Vol I: Corruption; Vol II: Reform; Vol III: Appendices', May 1997) was publicly released on 15 May 1997, to much media fanfare. The Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) devoted an 8-page special report on I May to the pending release of the Inquiry Report, headed The Police Purge. On the day of the public release of the Report, the SMH five-page 'Special Report' under the banner The Police Verdict was headlined Wood, Carr Split on Drugs. The Australian led with Call for Drug Law Revamp, Force Overhaul to Fight Corruption, Wood Attacks Culture of Greed, and the Daily Telegraph front page 'Final Verdict' was True Blue Strategy for an Honest Police Force...

Criminal Laws : Materials and Commentary on Criminal Law and Process in NSW [Fifth Edition]

"The success of Criminal Laws lies both in its distinctive features and in its appeal to a range of readerships. As one review put it, it is simultaneously a "textbook, casebook, handbook and reference work". As such it is ideal for criminal law and criminal justice courses as a teaching text, combining as it does primary sources with extensive critical commentary and a contextual perspective. It is likewise indispensable to practitioners for its detailed coverage of substantive law and its extensive references and inter-disciplinary approach make it a first point of call for researchers from all disciplines. This fifth edition strengthens these distinctive features. All chapters have been systematically updated to incorporate the plethora of legislative, case law, statistical and research material which has emerged since the previous edition. The critical, thematic, contextual and interdisciplinary perspectives have been continued."--Publisher's website. Table of Contents: 1. Some themes -- 2. Criminalisation -- 3. The criminal process -- 4. Components of criminal offences -- 5. Homicide: murder and involuntary manslaughter -- 6. Defences -- 7. Assault and sexual assault -- 8. Public order offences -- 9. Drugs offences -- 10. Dishonest acquisition -- 11. Extending criminal liability: complicity, conspiracy and association -- 12. Sentencing and penality.

Recurring themes in contemporary criminal justice developments and debates

Criminal Justice in New Zealand is the first comprehensive account of the New Zealand approach to criminal justice issues to be published in this country, and it discusses the complex range of interconnected procedures involved in the system. New Zealand readers will enjoy the access to analysis and insight into the justice outcomes, procedures and how the inter-weavings affect different constituents. Highlights include statistical analysis, youth justice, the dealings and impact of media on criminal justice. The book emphasises the lack of coherent philosophy connecting the many stakeholders and describes the operation of its founding theories and procedures, including the trial process, criminal procedure, policing, sentencing and provision for victims. Tolmie and Brookbanks have excelled in their editing of this wide-ranging content, and have created an excellent resource. This book will become required reading for law students, policy analysts, sociologists, Judges and police. The book provides an account of a complex range of interconnected constituencies and procedures that together constitute the New Zealand criminal justice system.

Challenges to Criminal Justice Reform

The Promise of Law Reform the most comprehensive examination of the institutions and processes of law reform published in the common law world and provides a rich source of information, inspiration and ideas. It is an edited collection of 30 essays published to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Australian Law Reform Commission. The authors - law reform commissioners, judges, academics, politicians, government officials, and journalists - reflect the plurality of law reform styles and structures, within Australia and overseas. They cover the broad themes of the history, purpose and function of law reform; institutional design of law reform agencies; methodology and operations; how successful law reform should be assessed and judged; cooperation and mutual assistance; other law reform initiatives; and law reform in action.

Royal Commissions and Criminal Justice : Behind the Ideal

Royal commissions are approached not as exercises in legitimation and closure but as sites of struggle that are heavily traversed by power holders yet are open to the voices of alternative and unofficial social groups, social movements, and individuals. Three case studies are discussed that highlight the hegemony of the legal methodology and discourse that dominate many inquiries. The first case, involving a single-case miscarriage inquiry, involves a man who was accused, convicted, and served a prison sentence for the murder of his wife. Nineteen years following the murder another man confessed to the crime. The official inquiry found that nothing had gone wrong in the criminal justice process; it had operated as it should. Thus, in the face of evidence that the criminal justice process may be flawed, the discursive strategy became one of silence; no explanation was offered except for the declaration that nothing had gone wrong. The fallibility of the criminal justice system was thus hidden from public view. The second case study examines the Wood Royal Commission into corruption charges within the NSW Police Service. The royal commission revealed a bevy of police misconduct offenses including process corruption, improper associations, theft, and substance abuse, among others. The author discusses the ways in which the other criminal justice players, the judiciary and prosecuting attorneys, emerge only briefly as potential ethical agents in relation to police misconduct and corruption and then abruptly disappear again. Yet, these other players are absolved of any responsibility for police misconduct. The third case study involves a spin-off inquiry into the facts surrounding the Leigh Leigh rape and murder case. This case illustrates how official inquires can seek to exclude non-traditional viewpoints and methodologies; in this case, the views of a feminist criminologist. The third case also illustrates how the adversarial process within the legal system allows those with power to subjugate the viewpoints of others through the legitimate use of cross-examination. These three case studies reveal how official inquiries tend to speak from an “idealized conception of justice” and downplay any viewpoint that questions this idealized version of the truth.

Searching for a social democratic narrative in criminal justice

Paul Keating recently noted that what the Rudd Government lacked was an overall narrative or story. I would like to argue that Paul Keating is correct and suggest a narrative: that of retrieving and defending aspects of our social democratic heritage from some of the damaging effects wrought by neo-liberalism. Moreover I want to argue that criminal justice policy needs to be seen as a part of this broader narrative, which requires it being prised from its current site, where it is wedged firmly in the narrative of law and order.

An examination of how the military, the conservative press and ministerialist politicians generated support within Queensland for the war in South Africa in 1899 and 1900

This thesis examines the role of conservative newspaper proprietors and editors to generate support for war against the Boers in South Africa. The thesis utilises Rune Ottosen's theoretical model concerning newspapers creating a pro-war mentality, and S.E. Finer's theory on the influences of the military on civilian Government. The pivotal supportive roles of Governor Lamington and Premiers Dickson and Philp and the oppositional role of Premier Dawson are also examined.

Source code watermarking based on function dependency oriented sequencing

In the current market, extensive software development is taking place and the software industry is thriving. Major software giants have stated source code theft as a major threat to revenues. By inserting an identity-establishing watermark in the source code, a company can prove it's ownership over the source code. In this paper, we propose a watermarking scheme for C/C++ source codes by exploiting the language restrictions. If a function calls another function, the latter needs to be defined in the code before the former, unless one uses function pre-declarations. We embed the watermark in the code by imposing an ordering on the mutually independent functions by introducing bogus dependency. Removal of dependency by the attacker to erase the watermark requires extensive manual intervention thereby making the attack infeasible. The scheme is also secure against subtractive and additive attacks. Using our watermarking scheme, an n-bit watermark can be embedded in a program having n independent functions. The scheme is implemented on several sample codes and performance changes are analyzed.

Written in code : diversity and the new genetics

Modern genetic research holds out the promise of a bold new future in which humanity has identified and conquered the genetic roots of many diseases. Genetic science also promises to shed light on who we are, what it is that makes us tick, what it is that makes us the way we are — in short, what it is that makes us human. Yet while genetics are a potential saviour (saving us from disease), it also appears as a threat that at the extremes appears to be the stuff of our worst nightmares, such as the prospect, probably more imagined than real, of rows of cloned individuals. The new genetics hold out the promise that through genetics we will be able to determine what we are, a promise that is simultaneously appealing and terrifying. This chapter discusses the cloning of people and parts, the law’s response to cloning, genetics and diversity, a framework for law reform.

Where is the software? Building a Metadata Repository for Software and Code Generated by QUT Researchers

QUT Software Finder is a searchable repository of metadata describing software and source code, which has been created as a result of QUT research activities. It was launched in December 2013. https://researchdatafinder.qut.edu.au/scf The registry was designed to aid the discovery and visibility of QUT research outputs and encourage sharing and re-use of code and software throughout the research community, both nationally and internationally. The repository platform used is VIVO (an open source product initially developed at Cornell University). QUT Software Finder records that describe software or code are connected to information about researchers involved, the research groups, related publications and related projects. Links to where the software or code can be accessed from are also provided alongside licencing and re-use information.

A promise and a possibility : the limitations of the traditional criminal justice system as an explanation for the emergence of restorative justice

The claim that restorative justice emerged in response to the failings of the traditional criminal justice system is frequently made and rarely challenged in the restorative justice literature. It is stated unproblematically, as though it is an unassailable fact rather than a powerful truth claim, thereby positioning restorative justice as a natural, progressive and superior model of justice in comparison with the traditional criminal justice system. This truth claim therefore bestows restorative justice with a legitimacy that is difficult to challenge or refute. Drawing on a Foucaultian genealogy of restorative justice, this article seeks to destabilise the truth claim that restorative justice emerged in response to the failings of the criminal justice system. While the shortcomings of the traditional criminal justice system may provide a backdrop to the emergence of restorative justice, this article argues that such a possibility makes restorative justice a possibility rather than an inevitability.