Latest news with #criminalresponsibility
SBS Australia
04-07-2025
- Politics
- SBS Australia
As ACT lifts the age of criminal responsibility to 14, where does the rest of Australia stand?
Children in the ACT can no longer be arrested, charged or sentenced under territory laws until they turn 14. Rather than facing charges, children will now be referred to therapeutic support services that will seek to address the root causes of their behaviour. Youths who commit serious crimes such as murder, serious violence and sexual offences will be exempt from the reforms, which took effect on 1 July and raised the age of criminal responsibility from its previous place of 10 years old. Other Australian jurisdictions have some of the lowest ages of criminal responsibility globally, falling well below international standards set by the United Nations. 'The ACT has looked at the evidence' Jonathan Hunyor of the Justice and Equity Centre said locking up 10-year-old children only worsens social problems. "The ACT has looked at the evidence, and the ACT is obviously serious about making their community safer because we know that locking up kids makes the community less safe," he said. "What locking up kids does is it cruels their chances, it takes them away from positive influences." Rather than helping kids build social capital, "what we do is place kids in a situation where they build criminal capital," Hunyor added. "They go to the university of crime, they get taught that they're criminals." 'Programs need to run inside communities, not prisons' Dr Faith Gordon, an Australian National University youth-justice researcher, said the ACT is now in line with "what international evidence has been telling us for years". Pointing to countries such as Norway, she notes that "big jumps in funding for programs that are run inside communities, not prisons" had led to "big drops in the number of children locked up". Here's where the rest of Australia stands when it comes to the age of criminal responsibility. Victoria Victoria raised its minimum age from 10 to 12 under the Youth Justice Bill passed in 2024 and has promised a formal review of a further rise to 14 in 2027. Tasmania The Tasmanian government will raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 14 years and will increase the minimum age of detention to 16 years by developing alternatives to detention for children aged 14 and 15 years. Implementation is expected be completed by July 2029. Northern Territory The Northern Territory briefly led the nation when it raised the age of criminal responsibility to 12 in 2023. A change of government reversed that decision in August 2024 and the minimum age is back to 10. NSW Australia's most-populous state has held the line at 10, despite medical and legal bodies urging change. A joint statement from Mental Health Carers NSW and BEING NSW this year renewed calls to match the ACT's standard. Queensland Queensland's Adult Crime, Adult Time laws, introduced at the end of 2024, kept the age at 10 and allow some serious offences by children to be dealt with in the adult system. South Australia Adelaide is consulting on whether to raise the age to 12 but has not drafted a bill. Western Australia Western Australia has also kept it at 10. Legal Aid WA confirms the age in its current guidance and the government has given no timetable for reform. The federal position The national minimum age is 10, but balanced by the safeguard principle of doli incapax, which requires prosecutors to prove a child aged 10 to 13 understood their actions were seriously wrong. In July 2024, then attorney-general Mark Dreyfus was asked about a national change at the National Press Club. He said the issue remained "under consideration" and argued it was less urgent for Canberra because "we have no children presently convicted of Commonwealth offences". Gordon said the "patchwork of legislation across the country is impractical and unfair". "A child in Canberra now gets health and family support. A child an hour away in NSW can still be taken to a police cell. We need a single national rule so every child, no matter where they live, has the same chance."
SBS Australia
04-07-2025
- Business
- SBS Australia
SBS News in Filipino, Friday 4 July 2025
Justice advocates in the Australian Capital Territory say the territory's decision to raise the age of criminal responsibility should serve as an example to other states and territories. ACCC is warning consumers about online 'ghost stores' - which claim to be small, local operators with high quality products. New research suggests wealthier students are going to benefit more from government plans to cut university debt than those on lower incomes. LISTEN TO SBS Filipino 04/07/2025 07:15 Filipino 📢 Where to Catch SBS Filipino
Yahoo
04-07-2025
- Yahoo
Judge finds Thomas Hamp not criminally responsible in 2022 stabbing death of Emily Sanche
A Saskatoon judge ruled Thursday that Thomas Hamp was in the throes of a psychotic break when he fatally stabbed his partner Emily Sanche in 2022 and is not criminally responsible for his actions. Justice Grant Currie said he accepted forensic psychiatrist Shabehram Lohrasbe's opinion on Hamp's mental state at the time of the stabbing. "This leads me to the conclusion that, when he stabbed and killed Emily, Thomas likely was operating under a mental disorder that rendered him incapable of knowing that doing so was wrong," Currie wrote in his 22-page decision at Court of King's Bench. Hamp's judge-alone trial on the charge of second-degree murder began in September 2024. From the start, the defence never disputed that Hamp stabbed Sanche. "This isn't going to be a whodunit," lawyer Brian Pfefferle said on the first day of the trial. "There is a mental element that will be an issue." Prosecutor Cory Bliss did not disagree that there was a mental element at play. But instead of accepting that the then-25-year-old was suffering from "schizophrenic spectrum disorder," he suggested that Hamp's heavy use of cannabis to self-medicate his symptoms for obsessive compulsive disorder led to him killing Sanche. This would mean Hamp was criminally responsible for what happened. Bliss read an agreed statement of facts into the record at the start of the trial. "In the early morning hours of Feb. 20, 2022, Thomas retrieved a kitchen knife from the set of knives found within the suite," Bliss said. "He stabbed Emily in the upper left chest with that knife. In doing so the blade broke and remained lodged in Emily's body." She died later in hospital. Hamp had originally been charged with aggravated assault. According to the statement, Hamp originally told a neighbour and police that a man had broken into the third-floor apartment and attacked the couple. He recanted that later, saying that he stabbed Sanche and then himself. The paper trail Sanche was aware of Hamp's deteriorating mental condition and kept careful notes about her efforts to get help. These notes proved critical to the psychiatric assessment by Shabehram Lohrasbe, the forensic psychiatrist retained by defence. Lohrasbe testified that he met with Hamp twice in person and then again by video, for a total of five hours. He also interviewed Hamp's parents and reviewed reports from his clinical treatment for obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Lohrasbe also reviewed detailed notes and text messages written by Sanche, who was studying for a master's degree in counselling and expressed concerns about her partner's deteriorating mental health in the year before he killed her. Lohrasbe also reviewed notes take by Sanche's cousin. The notes included observations Sanche made hours before her death, after the couple contacted the Saskatoon Crisis Intervention Service. Hamp was supposed to go to the hospital that day. Lohrasbe said he's done thousands of assessments over his four-decade career and that the written records from the two young women "are incredibly important documents." He said Sanche's text message chain "is poignant, and so close to the offence." "I've never seen anything like it." In his analysis, Lohrasbe said Hamp's worsening OCD symptoms and heavy cannabis use almost surely played a role in the psychotic episode, but "their precise potential roles cannot be delineated." Next step: the Saskatchewan Review Board The decision by Justice Currie ends Hamp's journey through the criminal justice system. Pfefferle said the next step is for his case to go before the Saskatchewan Review Board. It decides what happens to individuals the court finds not criminally responsible. "It isn't about punishment at all," he said. "It's singularly focused on trying to determine whether a person is safe to be released into the community. And once they're determined to be safe, and conditions are formulated, then the person can be released." In a written statement, Hamp's parents Bryan and Sandi thanked the judge for the finding. "We, like everyone who knew and loved Emily Sanche will forever grieve her death," they wrote. "Emily was a beautiful, honest, smart and caring person. We are grateful for Emily's love for our son and the dedication she showed him." Bliss said he would be consulting with his colleagues at Public Prosecutions on whether the decision would be appealed.
CTV News
03-07-2025
- CTV News
Saskatoon man not criminally responsible for killing partner, judge rules
A Court of King's Bench judge has ruled a Saskatoon man was not criminally responsible for the death of his partner. Justice Grant Currie took less than a few minutes to read his brief decision to the courtroom Thursday, saying 'it is more likely than not' Thomas Hamp was suffering from a mental disorder when he stabbed and killed his partner Emily Sanche in their shared apartment on Feb. 20, 2022. Currie said the mental disorder Hamp was suffering from 'rendered him incapable of knowing that it was wrong.' 'I was sweating like any other person who's involved in the case,' defence attorney Brian Pfefferle said. 'You never know what will happen until the verdict is read, but I was hopeful that this would occur and it's an expected verdict from our position.' 'I won't speak for the family,' Crown prosecutor Cory Bliss said following the decision. 'I know this has been very hard on them. They lost a daughter and a loved one and a sister. They're still feeling a lot of pain and just a lot of anger towards what happened.' Hamp admitted he fatally stabbed Sanche at trial. The question wasn't whether or not he committed the act, it was whether he was capable of knowing what he was doing was morally wrong. Hamp testified that he believed he was being watched by secret police who were trying to frame him as a pedophile. He said he wanted to save Sanche from being tortured and forced to breed and be killed. In the months before the stabbing, Hamp testified about having false memories of being molested and an increased paranoia people close to him were conspiring with the secret police. He was suspicious of medical professionals and feared they would castrate him. He was fearful of technology and was obsessed with the video game Tetris because he believed it was a test from the secret police. Throughout all of this, Sanche, who was working towards a master's degree in counselling, kept detailed notes of what was happening to Hamp and her concerns for him. Dr. Shabehram Lohrasbe, a forensic psychiatrist who testified at the trial and has provided thousands of assessments over his career, said he had never seen anything like it. 'In her death, her words in writing, essentially are what the court relied on, and what Dr. Lohrasbe relied on, to provide him with this evidence for the (not criminally responsible) verdict,' Pfefferle said. 'In many respects, quite tragically, Emily continued to advocate for Thomas.' Bliss said this case is different from a majority of murder trials because Hamp didn't give any statement to police the night of the killing and didn't speak to anyone about what happened in any great detail until he spoke with psychiatrists. 'One challenge, I would say for the Crown, is discerning how to cross-examine someone when basically the statement they've given has been supporting the ultimate finding of (not criminally responsible),' he said. Hamp's parents, Bryan and Sandi, declined to speak with reporters following Currie's decision, but later sent a statement to media. 'We are grateful that Justice Currie carefully reviewed this case and found Thomas not criminally responsible. We, like everyone who knew and loved Emily Sanche will forever grieve her death,' the statement said. 'Her diary was the central evidence that was used in this case. She knew Thomas best and her diligence in documenting his decline was so careful and detailed. We could not help but feel her advocacy for Thomas transcended her passing.' Pfefferle said Thursday marks 40 months to the day Hamp was incarcerated. Hamp never applied for release and hoped serving time would give the family closure. Pfefferle said that stability will 'bode well' for reintegration back into society. According to the Criminal Code of Canada, The Saskatchewan Review Board, an independent administrative tribunal, must hold a disposition trial within 45 days to determine Hamp's fate, unless an extension is granted. Hamp will be transported to the Saskatchewan Hospital in North Battleford until that takes place.
The Guardian
08-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
NSW to review law that presumes children under 14 are incapable of evil
A centuries-old legal presumption that children aged between 10 and 14 don't understand the difference between right and wrong is to be reviewed after New South Wales youth criminal conviction rates tumbled fivefold. The NSW attorney general's office said the review will consider how the principle of doli incapax – Latin for 'incapable of evil' – is applied in criminal proceedings, its impact on intervention, possible improvements and a framework for legislation. In NSW, the criminal age of responsibility is 10 but doli incapax can apply up to 14. The presumption can be rebutted if police can prove a child understood what they did was seriously wrong, as opposed to naughty. The state parole authority chair and former supreme court judge, Geoffrey Bellew SC, and former NSW police deputy commissioner Jeffrey Loy will lead the doli incapax review, the state attorney general, Michael Daley, said on Thursday. In 2016, a high court ruling clarified doli incapax, resulting in prosecutors needing to prove the child understood they were seriously wrong when committing a crime. Since then, conviction rates of children aged 10 to 13 years have plummeted. A NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (Bocsar) report found the proportion of 10–13-year-olds with a proven outcome – guilty or not guilty - in the NSW children's court tumbled from 76% in 2015-16 to 16% in 2022-23. The prosecution withdrew charges in more than half of cases in 2022-23, with similar patterns in Victoria and South Australia. The attorney general's office said a similar decline was not seen in Queensland and Western Australia, where doli incapax has been codified in legislation (rather than as a common law understanding, as in NSW). 'The common law presumption of doli incapax dates back hundreds of years. It operates across all Australian jurisdictions and its existence in the common law has been affirmed by the high court,' Daley said in a statement. 'Recently, concerns have been raised about the operation of doli incapax. I commissioned this review to ensure close consideration of any improvements that can be made and possible legislative reforms.' Citing Bocsar, the attorney general's office said the result raised questions about how best to support young people to reduce future criminal involvement. According to Bocsar, Aboriginal children and children living in regional and remote NSW are disproportionately represented in the state's criminal justice system. Aboriginal legal groups said the criminal age should be raised to 14 and the presumption of doli incapax removed altogether. Very young children 'criminalised' Camilla Pandolfini, the CEO of Redfern Legal Centre, said children 'should not end up in prison'. 'Putting young children into prison isn't going to make anybody safer. It doesn't address the causes of crime [or] address the reasons why very young children are being criminalised. It only increases the risk of recidivism.' Rather than reviewing doli incapax, she said the state should focus on crime prevention and boost funding of Aboriginal community organisations and local services in rural and regional communities. The NSW government recently extended its controversial youth bail laws, despite experts warning it will not curb crime long term and internal pushback from some Labor MPs. The state Nationals have been pushing the NSW government and the Liberals to support a change to doli incapax. A budget estimates hearing was told last monththe youth justice system is about '90% full at the moment' 'The changes to bail laws in the past year have coincided with an increase,' Paul O'Reilly, the acting deputy secretary for system reform at Department of Communities and Justice, told the hearing. 'It's not entirely clear that increase is entirely attributable to the change in the bail laws. 'What we have seen is a change in bail decision-making behaviour from police and courts generally, and we've also seen an increase in offending and an increase in violence in offending. 'All of those things add up to more kids in detention and, at the moment, we are managing that within our current capacity.' Youth crime has remained stable over the short and medium term in NSW, the latest Bocsar data shows. However the data indicated a 'significant increase' in young people shoplifting, and possessing illicit weapons.
