In a scathing report, the Commonwealth Ombudsman has lambasted the Australian Federal Police for its lack of commitment to a complaints system. He accuses the AFP of wasting information, exonerating its own officers, and taking forever to resolve ma…
Restorative justice is a growing trend worldwide, but the concept needs better definition, more targeted use, better reporting and support from governments, Auneesh Kishore writes. His internship report, a joint undertaking with CLA and the Law Faculty…
When someone is wrongfully imprisoned, there are many hidden victims. It’s not only the convicted person who does the time, whose life gets put on hold and turned upside down, it’s every member of their family too.
So even if some people don’t care…
SCAG – the Standing Committee of Attorneys-General – issued a typical economically worded ‘communique’ after its December 2010 meeting. CLA believes SCAG should publish a full agenda, and formal minutes, for each meeting.
Communique – Standing Commi…
CLA’s CEO Bill Rowlings has generated a storm of letters in the NT News after he criticised the fact that police in the Territory are given blanket immunity from prosecution under the NT Mental Health Act. The debate follows the death inside Royal Darwin…
Dear Sir: Police & Tasers: why not for once back our police force? If idiots wish to charge police with knives they should be stopped with Taser or gun. Hope you never need the police to help you. RegardsŠSydney.Dear Sir: I have just observed you…
Ken Davidson, editor of Dissent magazine and also a leading columnist on The Age newspaper, has analysed in straight economic terms why the current approach to drugs is wrong. He supports a switch to low-cost, high-impact programs.Time to start think…
Every police patrol in the NT will carry at least one stun gun by Christmas, with 100 new weapons taking the NT Police total to 230. In 2009, Kwementyaye Rubuntja, 39, died from heart failure after being stunned twice in Alice Springs. The NT coroner fou…
In a recent series of articles, The Economist queries the sanity of the USA locking away more and more people in jails, some for almost unbelievable ‘crimes’, at increasingly greater cost year by year. There are lessons here for Australia.Crime and p…
Crime is down in Australia and throughout the western world. But people think crime is rising, with some academics theorising it’s because of all the cop shows on TV. Here’s the official rundown for Australia – what do you think? Read more »…