This publication is a practical guide to the law on mental health issues that arise within the criminal justice framework in New South Wales. It offers comprehensive coverage and clear explanations of all of the important topics in this field and is an ideal resource for lawyers, mental health professionals, correctional health personnel, and anyone else engaged in the fields of criminal law and forensic mental health, or students with an interest in pursuing studies or a career in these areas. All chapters have been fully revised, updated and, in many cases, significantly expanded. The operation of the Mental Health Act 2007 and the Mental Health (Forensic Provisions) Act 1990 is dealt with in detail. New to this edition are the chapters on the management of forensic and correctional patients, infanticide, and a comprehensive chapter on the assessment and management of risk, including a section on the Crimes (Serious Sex Offenders) Act 2006.

This work is specifically designed to meet the needs of students who will be studying criminal law over one semester. This work states the basic principles and provides the fundamental source material required for a study of New South Wales criminal law and procedure. It examines the substantive law in a procedural and evidentiary context. This text gives students the thorough grounding they need in the basic principles of the criminal justice system before moving to the detail of their application in an expanding range of discrete contexts. It also provides practitioners with an introduction to the principal authorities and statutory provisions governing the practice of criminal law in New South Wales. Important Features: Explanatory flowcharts introduce readers to the framework of general principles before proceeding to an examination of the principles in detail. The book provides a series of examples and problems suitable for discussion in lectures, tutorials and students' study groups.

The new edition is broken down into three parts.

New South Wales is that rare political creation, a state founded for and upon the criminal law. The history of its criminal law from settlement to Federation is uniquely fascinating. Drawing on his range of experience as a university scholar, a criminal law QC and a judge, the author explains how Britain's criminal laws were established and developed in its (arguably) most successful colony. There are three themes:the horror and savagery of the criminal law transported to Australia and imposed there;the constitutional importance of basic criminal law rules requiring certainty of proof;the corrupt but necessary role of mercy in the administration of the law.There are several genuinely remarkable features of this book. One is that the author draws upon a vast body of material recently brought to light by Bruce Kercher in his massive disinterment of early colonial case law, to explain in detail the actual working of the New South Wales criminal courts.Another is that the core of the book is an analysis of New South Wales parliamentary debates between 1871 and 1883 on criminal law, illuminating the history of the law (and its future). Yet the most remarkable thing of all about this book is its rarity. In the many places where the British Empire imposed its laws, there are hundreds of universities and centres of legal study.Histories of the criminal law, or studies which can be so described, are rare or invisible. This admirable study will become a classic in its field, required reading by legal scholars, historians of colony and empire, and by astute legal practitioners making arguments for contemporary submissions or judgments.The second volume (Woods, 2018) continues the still-fascinating story from 1901 (when the colony became a state) through until mid-20th century, when the death penalty was effectively abolished.

The extent of powers granted to police and other investigative agencies have changed in line with new technologies and new types of crime, this text combines criminal law and administrative law materials to provide an encyclopaedic outline of the powers and responsibilities of Police and other investigative agencies, across Australian jurisdictions. In recent years various Investigative Agencies such as ASIO have had their powers expanded, whether to combat perceived threats to society, or to take account of changing technologies. This text will provide an outline of the powers and responsibilities of Police and Investigative agencies while undertaking the investigation of a crime, as well as the limitations on these powers.

The success of Criminal Laws lies both in its distinctive features and in its appeal to a range of readerships. As one review put it, it is simultaneously a "textbook, casebook, handbook and reference work". As such it is ideal for criminal law and criminal justice courses as a teaching text, combining as it does primary sources with extensive critical commentary and a contextual perspective.It is likewise indispensable to practitioners for its detailed coverage of substantive law and its extensive references and inter-disciplinary approach make it a first point of call for researchers from all disciplines.This sixth edition strengthens these distinctive features. All chapters have been systematically updated to incorporate the plethora of legislative, case law, statistical and research material which has emerged since the previous edition. The critical, thematic, contextual and interdisciplinary perspectives have been deepened. A new Policing chapter has been added, Assault and Sexual Assault divided into separate chapters and the process coverage and theme extended throughout.

Criminal Law Perspectives: From Principles to Practice is an engaging introduction to the criminal law in New South Wales, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and the Commonwealth Criminal Code. It takes a comparative approach to the law in these jurisdictions, focusing on prevalent summary offences, substantive federal offences and criminal procedure. Complex concepts are explained and contextualised by linking them to practical applications. Each chapter is supported by tools for self-assessment: review questions; case boxes summarising and extracting key historical and contemporary cases; and longer, narrative end-of-chapter problems that promote student engagement and help students develop problem-solving skills and independent thinking. Criminal Law Perspectives explores the development of criminal law principles in Australia, and provides a comprehensive and accessible overview of criminal law for students studying in the area for the first time.