A Time to Fly and a Time to Die: Suicide Tourism and Assisted Dying in Australia Considered

In the United Kingdom, a series of high-profile court cases have led the Director of Public Prosecutions to publish a policy clarifying the exercise of its discretion in assisted suicide. Importantly, the experience in the United Kingdom serves as a timely reminder that Australia too should formulate its own guidelines that detail how prosecutorial discretion will be exercised in cases of assisted suicide. This is especially significant given the fact that many Australian citizens are traveling to jurisdictions where assistance in dying is legal. However, any policy should not distract from addressing law reform on voluntary euthanasia. Australian legislators should consult with the public in order to represent the opinion of the majority. Nevertheless, any future policy and law reform implemented should provide adequate safeguards and be guided by the principle of individual autonomy

Turner v R : relevance of summary jurisdiction at sentence

The relevance of the fact that a matter could have been dealt with summarily, as a factor contributing to mitigation on sentence, remains ambiguous. Turner19 follows recent decisions calling into question the relevance of this consideration, and suggests that sentencing judges are not in error for omitting to mention the possibility that the offences could have been heard in the Local Court.2

Australia's child abuse material legislation : what's the artistic merit defence got to do with it?

The New South Wales (NSW) child abuse material legislation was subject to considerable scrutiny following the 2008 controversy over Bill Henson's photographs of nude children. The controversy prompted the NSW Government to remove the artistic merit defence, believing it was anomalous to retain the defence under laws concerned with child protection. This article argues that, in the midst of the debates about artistic freedom and child protection, there was a missed opportunity to reconsider the shortcomings of the current definition of child abuse material under Australian law. It addresses what should have been central in the debate, that is, the appropriateness of retaining the community standards test in defining child abuse material. This test requires asking what the "reasonable" person would find "offensive" in defining child abuse material, which can be contrasted with a harm-based definition that focuses on how the material was produced rather than its potential to offend viewers

Virtual child pornography could both help and hinder law enforcement

More than one decade ago, the United States government predicted that “technology will soon exist, if it does not already, to make depictions of virtual children look real”. There is now evidence to suggest we have reached that point. We need to consider the implications this may have for law enforcement agencies in combating child abuse material

Strategies used to tackle technology-facilitated abuse in the domestic violence context

Recently, Australian governments have given considerable attention to developing strategies to tackle domestic violence. In recognition of the heavy dependency on digital communication devices in contemporary society, some of the initiatives have recognised the rise of technology-facilitated domestic violence (‘cyber-violence’). This includes behaviours such as threatening phone calls, cyber-stalking, location tracking via smartphones, harassment on social media sites, and the dissemination of intimate images of partners without consent (‘revenge porn’). However, cyber-violence has not received adequate attention throughout Australia and there is currently only a patchwork of inconsistent laws that are often inadequate. This presentation seeks to discuss the phenomenon of technology-facilitated abuse in the domestic violence context and elaborates on the article, ‘Technology-facilitated abuse: The new breed of domestic violence’ (Al-Alosi, 2017). In 2018, it is timely and necessary to reflect on the success and failures of strategies implemented since to tackle cyber-violence

User-generated content, fantasy, and the law

Unlike the previous generations, individuals today are not merely consuming media online, but creating their own material and sharing it among a wide and global audience. The use of the internet is characterised by increased participation and interaction among users who use it to express themselves. The availability and affordability, and apparent anonymity provided by the internet provides an ideal space to share one’s fantasies, some of which may be regarded as deviant. Of concern is that the law has not caught up with the way in which individuals are using the new digital communication technologies to share this content, as highlighted by the potential criminalisation of young people who create material containing sexually explicit themes under the child abuse materials legislation. Accordingly, the proposed presentation seeks to discuss the types of user-generated content that are problematic in law and how this affects the freedom of expression rights of creators and consumers. It is particularly concerned with user-generated content in the form of fan fiction stories and deviant forms of art, both of which have become a popular mode of expression, especially for young people. As will be discussed, some of this material contains sexually themes that trigger the child abuse material legislation, thus highlighting the law’s unintended consequences and its chilling effects on expression

‘Is yaoi illegal?!’ : let’s get real about the potential criminalisation of yaoi

As seen in the previous chapters, there are several interrelated areas of law that may be relevant to YAOI, such as copyright, intellectual property, and censorship laws. The criminal laws in Western countries that prohibit fictional child pornography, which may have impact on YAOI fans, have received relatively less academic attention. The limited scholarly literature that specifically considers the potential criminalisation of YAOI tends to suggest that governments are targeting YAOI because it depicts fictitious young male characters in a sexual context. Coupled with media reporting of a few instances involving males prosecuted for having in their possession comics depicting children engaging in sexual activity, many panic-stricken fans have been eager to know, ‘is YAOI illegal?!’

JB v R (No 2)63 : inquiry into murder conviction based on new and fresh evidence

In this case, the NSWCCA considered whether the Court should exercise its discretion to order a new trial under s 8(1) of the Criminal Appeal Act 1912 (NSW)

Young people as creators of sexually explicit online material : fan fiction and the law in Australia

Unlike the previous generations, individuals today are not merely consuming media online, but creating their own material and sharing it among a wide and global audience. Of concern is that the law has not caught up with the way in which individuals are using the new digital communication technologies to share this content, as highlighted by the potential criminalisation of young people who create material containing sexually explicit themes under the child abuse materials legislation. Accordingly, this paper seeks to investigate the potential criminalisation of young people for user-generated content in the form of fan-fiction stories. As will be discussed, some of this material contains sexually themes that trigger the child abuse material legislation, thus highlighting the law’s unintended consequences