SPECIALISED SEXUAL OFFENCES COURTS AND OTHER NEW PROJECTS WITHIN
THE LEGAL SYSTEM
Saturday 8th 9.55am
Judge Meryl Sexton
Judge Sexton was appointed to the County Court in 2001.
Before that, she had been a Crown Prosecutor since 1995, and from 1997 to 2001,
was an Advocate Member of the Legal Profession Tribunal. She is on the Council
of the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine.
Judge Sexton is the author of a chapter on the law relating
to sexual offences in Victoria, in the work Criminal Law Victoria
published by Thompson Legal & Regulatory Group. She has lectured extensively on
the practice and procedure of criminal law to a variety of groups.
Judge Sexton was a member of the Advisory Committee to the
Victorian Law Reform Commission on Sexual Offences: Law and Procedure, and is
currently a member of the State Government’s Sexual Assault Advisory Committee,
and a member of the Advisory Committee for the Child Witness Service.
In October 2005, she became the inaugural Judge in Charge of
the Sex Offences List in the County Court, a position which she still holds.
OVERVIEW
Specialised Sexual offences courts and other new programs –
Judge Meryl Sexton
The Victorian Law Reform Commission
- April 2001 began reviewing current laws relating to sexual offences.
- August 2004 published Final report into sexual offences Law and
Procedure containing 201 recommendations for change .
- Legislative and procedural change must be accompanied by Cultural change
to be significant and long lasting.
Implementation stages of recommendation.
Stage 1. Reforms in relation to children and people with a
cognitive impairment.
Stage 2. Adult complainants
Stage 3. "Mental element" in rape.
The Legislative Reforms.
-created some new offences
-amended some existing crimes
- inserted Guiding Principles into both Crimes and evidence Acts
to be used by courts in interpreting the
law relating to sexual offences.
The principles are to recognise:
-high incidence of sexual violence
-under reporting
-significant number of sexual offences committed against, women,
children and vulnerable people
-offenders commonly known to victims
-unlikely to be any physical signs of sexual offences
Objectives inserted into Crimes Act are:
-to uphold the fundamental right of every person to choose not
to engage in sexual activity
-to protect children and cognitive impaired persons from sexual
exploitation
The focus of reforms :
1.Making the criminal justice system responsive to the needs of
complainants in sexual offences cases.
2.Measurement of Success of Reforms
- More victims of sexual offences feel the system is more responsive to
them than in the past.
- More likely to report crimes committed against them.
3.Making it easier for complainant to give evidence and includes
:
- a right to give evidence via closed circuit TV – known as a
remote witness facility.
- Accused no longer allowed to cross examine a complainant.
4.Children and cognitively impaired witnesses.
- Evidence pre-recorded before a judge, via remote witness facility
- This recording then used in all subsequent trials.
- These vulnerable witnesses can no longer be cross examined.
- Test of competency for these witnesses to give evidence under oath has
been made easier.
- Specific prohibition against improper questioning of these vulnerable
witnesses
5.Confidential Communications:
- Reform designed to make system more responsive to complainants around
subpoena of documents containing confidential communications between the
complainant and medical practitioner or counsellor during course of
treatment.
- Now a three stage process to ensure test in the Evidence Act is met.
6.questioning as to Sexual History of Complainant.
- Intended to prevent cross examination which suggested consent – because
of previous consensual sex on another occasion
- And to prevent unnecessary and personal cross examination as to other
sexual activity.
Non Legislative Reforms
- Coordinated by Sexual Assault Reform Unit and Department of Justice.
- Across criminal justice system from police, forensic examinations, OPP,
magistrates and county courts.
- Predominately responding to needs of vulnerable witness eg;children or
cognitively impaired people.
Vic. Police
- Funding to establish multi disciplinary SA centres, "One stop shops"
(Canadian model) operating in Mildura and Frankston.
- Review – leading to ongoing training of SOCA units (sexual offence and
child abuse) and CIU (criminal investigation units) in specific ways of
dealing with cases involving such vulnerable witnesses.
VIFM
- Additional training and recruitment of forensic medical officers and
forensic nurse examiners especially for regional locations.
- Graduate Certificate in Nursing (Forensic) Monash University.
Office of Public Prosecution (OPP)
- April 2006 – launched specialist sex offences unit. Training, guidelines
and feedback.
- Witness support services
- To provide more seamless informative and respectful process.
- Booklet – "Pathways to Justice. A guide to the Victorian Court System
for Victims and Witnesses of Serious Crimes".
Child Witness Service
- Established June 2006
- Support to complainants under 18years
- Dedicated unit separate from court – child friendly – safe and
comfortable place.
- Remote witness facility
- Allocated worker to prepare for experience of giving evidence.
Other Initiatives
- November 2006 Victims’ Charter Act. Sets out 12 principles which
represent minimum standards for response to victims of crime.
- Booklet released " A Victim’s Guide to Support services and the Criminal
Justice System
- Judicial College of Victoria published a Sexual Assault Manual,
available online at the Judicial College website
Magistrates’ and County Courts
- Both have set up Specialist Lists to manage sexual offences cases and
make the process more efficient and more responsive to the needs of the
complainants
- Interested Magistrates are specifically rostered
- Through the List cases to be heard are managed more expediently through
a number of approaches including; efficient management of pre-trial matters
and minimum delay in court attendance and giving evidence.