LLB 130 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Crimes Act 1900, Police Corruption
Week 1 – Defining Crime
Substance of criminal law:
• Legislation = statute law made by parliament
• Common law (CL) = decisions of judges
• Law in practice = by police, judges, prison officials, etc
• Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) – largely looking at at NSW legislation
Crie as a social costruct
• Crie is ot soe gie ojet ut is rather produed i/through koledge ad
power relations
• Polie dot eter the priate real
• Examples:
- Provocation was changed in 1984 due to domestic violence to allow women a
defence for killing their partner – attered oes sdroe – enable victims
to say they were provoked. Changed in 2014
- Rape in marriage – util the I do i arriage iluded I do to se i
marriage – allowing people to rape their husband/wife
- Homosexuality – deriialised i the s. Not util that the age of
consent became 16. Started removing criminal record for homosexual offences in
2014
What is crime?
• Traditional view = crime is what the statute books say crime is: see Williams CB 59
• Coo sese ie
- everyone knows a crime when we see it: see Hogg & Brown CB 59
- fors the foudatio for uh of the pulis presuptios regardig
criminalization
• Crie as a soial ostrut = theres othig atural aout rie. It aot e
looked at objectively. Instead, it is a social construct: a way of perceiving particular
ehaior. This is ho e offees are reated. Soiet egis to ie ertai
behaviour as a crime
Criminalization
The process of identifying an act deemed dangerous to the dominant social order and
designating it as criminally punishable
Effects of over criminalisation
• Poor resource allocation e.g. arrest, conviction and imprisonment rates
• 1000 crimes committed
• Will punishment lead to behaviour changes or more secrecy?
• Displacement of crime to another area
• Police corruption
• Health issues
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
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