Sentencing of indigenous offenders in Victoria

It is common knowledge, especially in the context of the findings of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (RCIADIC),\u27 that indigenous persons are over-represented at all stages of the criminal justice system. Unfortunately, little has changed since the RCIADIC and indigenous representation in prisons throughout the states and territories of Australia remains at high levels. What has come to prominence since the RCIADIC, particularly through the findings of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission in the 1997 report Bringing Them Home, is the notion of the Stolen Generation. For practitioners with indigenous clients, an important matter that may be put in mitigation is the effect of belonging to the Stolen Generation in terms of offering not only an explanation for offending, but also in terms of submissions put forward on behalf of the client pertaining to disposition. In this context, the Victorian Court of Appeal decision in R v Fuller-Cust is an important one, particularly the dissenting judgment of Eames J. His Honour, in a persuasive and well-reasoned judgment, suggests a method of sentencing indigenous offenders that relates questions of Aboriginality, the Stolen Generation and punishment.<br /

Organosulfate Formation in Biogenic Secondary Organic Aerosol

Organosulfates of isoprene, α-pinene, and β-pinene have recently been identified in both laboratory-generated and ambient secondary organic aerosol (SOA). In this study, the mechanism and ubiquity of organosulfate formation in biogenic SOA is investigated by a comprehensive series of laboratory photooxidation (i.e., OH-initiated oxidation) and nighttime oxidation (i.e., NO3-initiated oxidation under dark conditions) experiments using nine monoterpenes (α-pinene, β-pinene, d-limonene, l-limonene, α-terpinene, γ-terpinene, terpinolene, Δ3-carene, and β-phellandrene) and three monoterpenes (α-pinene, d-limonene, and l-limonene), respectively. Organosulfates were characterized using liquid chromatographic techniques coupled to electrospray ionization combined with both linear ion trap and high-resolution time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Organosulfates are formed only when monoterpenes are oxidized in the presence of acidified sulfate seed aerosol, a result consistent with prior work. Archived laboratory-generated isoprene SOA and ambient filter samples collected from the southeastern U.S. were reexamined for organosulfates. By comparing the tandem mass spectrometric and accurate mass measurements collected for both the laboratory-generated and ambient aerosol, previously uncharacterized ambient organic aerosol components are found to be organosulfates of isoprene, α-pinene, β-pinene, and limonene-like monoterpenes (e.g., myrcene), demonstrating the ubiquity of organosulfate formation in ambient SOA. Several of the organosulfates of isoprene and of the monoterpenes characterized in this study are ambient tracer compounds for the occurrence of biogenic SOA formation under acidic conditions. Furthermore, the nighttime oxidation experiments conducted under highly acidic conditions reveal a viable mechanism for the formation of previously identified nitrooxy organosulfates found in ambient nighttime aerosol samples. We estimate that the organosulfate contribution to the total organic mass fraction of ambient aerosol collected from K-puszta, Hungary, a field site with a similar organosulfate composition as that found in the present study for the southeastern U.S., can be as high as 30%

Validation and Use of 22Na Turnover to Measure Food Intake in Free-Ranging Lizards

As the food intake of free-ranging animals has proved to be difficult to measure by traditional means, the feasibility of using radioactive Na to measure food consumption in a small scincid lizard (Lampropholis guichenoti) was assessed. This technique has previously been used only for several species of mammal. A significant relationship between food intake and Na turnover was found in the laboratory, with Na turnover underestimating intake by 7.6%. The food intake of free-ranging members of a field population was estimated by 22Na turnover to be 9.55, 0.65, 9.39 and 13.75 mg dry weight (day)-1 during autumn, winter, spring and summer respectively. Estimates of assimilated and expended energy from these food intake values agree closely with data reported for other lizards using alternative techniques. This study also describes the technical innovations which were necessary to study lizards weighing less than 1 g; and it suggests that 22Na can provide an easy, reliable and inexpensive means of studying the energetics of many free-living animals

Literary concepts and the plea in mitigation

The article focuses on the plea in mitigation, one of the most common occurrences in the criminal justice system. Methods of approaching the plea in mitigation typically emphasize the need for the advocate to address the circumstances of the offence and offender. Typically, such matters are put forward as items on a list which the advocate must ensure are addressed during the plea in mitigation. Whilst it is important for those matters to be covered in providing the factual background, or context, of the offender and the offence, it is contended that in a plea in mitigation it is not sufficient nor adequate to simply present such matters to a judicial officer at sentencing and to allow those matters then to be assembled and interpreted by the sentencing judge.<br /

Models of understanding criminal behaviour and the sentencing process : a place for criminological theory?

The method by which a sentencing court understands the reasons for the commission of a criminal offence is crucial to the framing of the ultimate disposition imposed in all of the circumstances of the offence and the offender. Under Australian criminal law the insights of criminology are rarely. if ever. used in the discharge of the sentencing function. In particular, theories of crime causation evident in schools of criminological thought are not relied upon even though ostensibly such theories would appear to have a degree of relevance to the sentencing task. In this article, a short sketch of contemporary criminological theory is provided. This is followed by a survey of the use of criminological theory under Australian criminal law and what role, if any, it plays in contemporary&nbsp; criminal justice administration. Finally, consideration is given as to whether or not criminological theory would be of assistance in the discharge of the&nbsp; sentencing task in relation to not only understanding the reasons for the commission of the offence by the offender, but also in the determination of the appropriate sanction.<br /