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Historic offences no longer disclosed in Victorian trials
New Victorian legislation will ensure defendants in minor offences will no longer need to disclose old criminal offences in a move that will help support rehabilitation of people in the community, which comes just as new criminal numbers are released.
Naomi Neilson
The change to legislation, which will ensure offenders no longer carry the burden from prior convictions that are more than 10 years’ old, has challenged the current law that any crime of which a person has been found guilty remains on their record indefinitely.
The Law Institute of Victoria and other legal organisations have campaigned for spent convictions scheme for several years. President Sam Pandya welcomed the move and said that it would assist in the potential rehabilitation of people in the community.
“If a person has been of good character and have not reoffended for a period of up to 10 years, it is only fair that they should be able to get on with their lives without having to disclose old offences every time they apply for a job or volunteer role,” Mr Pandya said of the legislative change.
“The law reform recognised that people can be rehabilitated and they should be able to seek employment, apply for housing and volunteer their time without old convictions coming back to haunt them.”
The current policy currently leaves young people and Indigenous Victorians subjected to discrimination. These groups are disproportionately represented in the system.
Mr Pandya said: “They are appearing for often minor offences such as possession of cannabis, shoplifting or using a concession Myki card without a concession card.”
The proposed legislation change comes as Australian Bureau of Statistics released its 2018-19 figures on the criminal justice system. The ABS disclosed there were almost 580,000 defendants finalised in Australian criminal courts over the last year.
Traffic and vehicle regulatory offences remained the most common principle offences, comprising of 34 per cent of defendants. Fines remained the most common sentencing type for guilty defendants, with the median amount being $500.
Of defendants finalised, three in four were male at an average of 33 years old. Majority of defendants were convicted in NSW courts, comprising over a quarter of all the defendants finalised nationally, followed by Queensland and Victoria.
Each state experienced a decrease, other than Queensland which increased 2 per cent to almost 156,000 defendants. It represented 28 per cent of the national figure.
South Australia experienced the greatest decrease, which was its second consecutive annual decrease and the lowest number of defendants finalised in the state since the 2010-11 reporting period. Most of the deceased occurred in the Magistrate’s Court due to system changes and the continued diversion of traffic infringements.
The ACT experienced the least, with 1 per cent of defendants finalised nationally. The state reached just 5,443 total defendants.
Naomi Neilson
Naomi Neilson is a senior journalist with a focus on court reporting for Lawyers Weekly.
You can email Naomi at:
