Executive Officer: Marcia Ella-Duncan

• Advises the Government on law and justice issues affecting Aboriginal people.
• Develops proposals for change and monitors programs relating to the impact of the criminal justice system on Aboriginal people.
  

• Provides policy makers and administrators with statistical information and research to help reduce crime and improve the NSW criminal justice system.
• Provides information and advice to the public to promote more informed public debate about crime and criminal justice.

• Provides the Government with advice on crime prevention policy and programs in NSW.
• Coordinates efforts to reduce crime through the development and promotion of effective crime prevention strategies.
• Implements the NSW Strategy To Reduce Violence Against Women.

• Provides advice and support to the Attorney General on criminal law and has responsibility for the Attorney General’s legislative program relating to the reform of criminal law and procedure.

• Conducts research and provides advice to the Attorney General on reforming the law in NSW.
  

• Advises the Attorney General, the Department and other Government Departments on legal policy, and legislative and procedural reform.
• Provides the Attorney General with parliamentary support and maintains the management information systems which monitor the scheduling and progress of the Attorney’s legislative program.
  
  
  

• consolidating regional AJACs and improving the Aboriginal community’s access to both the regional and central Councils;
• consulting with Government agencies to develop a cohesive and comprehensive approach across agencies to reduce the over representation of Aboriginal people in the criminal justice system;
• negotiating with the Department’s Crime Prevention Division to improve the Aboriginal community’s participation in crime prevention planning, and to increase the Aboriginal community’s access to crime prevention resources; and
• identifying the priority needs of Aboriginal women in relation to the criminal justice system and advocating for change where appropriate.
  

• advise on service and program delivery for Aboriginal prisoners.
• develop closer linkages with other Aboriginal organisations such as Aboriginal Legal Services and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission.
• develop sentencing alternatives and diversionary strategies for Aboriginal people and young people.
• finalise an evaluation of the implementation of the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, and develop a proposal for further reporting on Royal Commission recommendations and the outcomes of the 1997 National Summit on Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.
• conduct a comprehensive survey of incarcerated Aboriginal women and girls.
• commence a thorough examination of Aboriginal access to bail.
• develop a discussion paper on Customary Law in NSW which sets out the Aboriginal community’s perspective on the issue.
  
  
  

• The willingness of Australian women to report violence and use the services available for victims of violence is low. Women who are assaulted without being injured and women assaulted by their current partner are particularly unlikely to report violence or use victim services. These findings are based on analysis of data on 412 victims of physical assault and 139 victims of sexual assault drawn from the 1996 Women’s Safety Survey, a nationally representative sample survey conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Further research is required to determine why these groups of women are less likely than other women to report violence and use services.
• Participants in Youth Justice Conferences, including victims, offenders and those who attend to support offenders, are satisfied with all aspects of the conferencing process. This finding is based on a survey of nearly 1000 participants in Youth Justice Conferences held in NSW in 1999. The survey found very high levels of satisfaction on a wide range of issues associated with the conferences in which they participated, including the information they received before the conference, the way the conference was run, the outcome of the conference, and the ‘fairness’ of the conferencing process.
• BOCSAR assessed the feasibility of developing a model of the criminal justice system. Better data on the bail status of court cases registered, the bail status of pending court cases, and the numbers of prisoner discharges should lead to more accurate estimation of the parameters and better predictive performance of the model.
  
  Goal : Reduce social disharmony through programs which prevent crime and protect human rights.
  
  BOCSAR also conducts research on crime to provide information for policy makers. This year’s key findings from the Bureau’s research on factors associated with crime are:
• Street-level drug law enforcement encourages heroin users to enter treatment programs and also encourages unsafe injection practices among some heroin users. These findings are based on personal interviews with more than 500 heroin users, who had had very high levels of contact with police and the criminal justice system, and two-thirds of whom had tried methadone treatment at least once. The implications of these findings for policing are that police need to take into account the effect drug law enforcement has on entry into treatment while avoiding enforcement practices which increase needle-sharing and thereby pose a threat to public health.
• It is estimated that in a 12-month period more than a quarter of a million people in NSW are offered goods they suspect are stolen. Young males living in high-crime areas are the most likely to be offered goods they think are stolen. Goods are most likely to be offered on the street or at a pub or club. These are the main findings from the first ever representative sample survey of the NSW population focussing on the issue of receiving stolen goods. Over 5,000 people were surveyed by telephone in May and June 1999. The results suggest that crime prevention strategies might benefit from targeting community groups who are most likely to be offered stolen goods, such as young males in high-crime areas, and locations which are likely to be repeatedly used to sell stolen goods such as pubs and clubs in high-crime areas.
  
  Goal: Continuously improve our services and increase satisfaction among our diverse clients.
  
  A new series of short reports was published by BOCSAR during the year to improve the information service to policy makers and administrators in the NSW criminal justice system. The Bureau Briefs provide timely information on recent trends and topical issues. BOCSAR also improved public access to its research findings by loading all newly published Crime and Justice Bulletins on its web site, in both text and Adobe Acrobat Reader formats.
  
  BOCSAR continued to respond promptly to requests for information from the public. On average about 100 requests for information were received each month. 98 per cent were dealt with within the time standard of one working day. In addition, an average of 15 data requests requiring computer extraction of data from the crime and court databases were received each month. Of these, 97.5 per cent were dealt with within the time standard of 20 working days.

• conduct drug research related to the 1999 Drug Summit and the evaluation of the Drug Court;
• further develop the criminal justice system model; and
• improve data quality and coverage in the databases of criminal court appearances.
  
  

• increase the unacceptability of violence against women;
• stimulate discussion among men who would not normally discuss the issue;
• encourage men to have a broader understanding of what is violence against women; and
• encourage men to have an understanding of the ramifications of such violence and abuse.

• assisting with the development of the program design and evaluation framework for the Youth Drug Court trial project and the Lismore Magistrates Early Referral Into Treatment Court trial project;
• publishing Government Policy and Guidelines for the Operation of Closed Circuit Television in Public Places; and
• convening more than 30 crime prevention training, consultancy and facilitation events throughout NSW.
  

• analyse the recommendations of the report Crime Prevention Through Social Support by the Standing Committee on Law and Justice;
• develop initiatives to improve crime prevention outcomes for Aboriginal communities;
• develop the Pathways Project, which will trial the implementation of a range of early intervention strategies and programs to achieve long term results in crime reduction and prevention at a local community level;
• develop and implement a common framework for planning and action in crime prevention by State Government departments and agencies;
• manage the Department’s involvement in drug-crime diversion programs;
• develop and manage the Graffiti Solutions Program and encourage the preparation of anti-graffiti strategic plans by local councils;
• develop the Strategy to Reduce Violence Against Women to address identified needs emerging from research, legislative changes and regional analysis;
• continue community education initiatives aimed at increasing the unacceptability of violence against women;
• promote a whole-of-Government approach to the prevention of violence against lesbians, gay men and transgender people; and
• implement a community education campaign to increase awareness and understanding of the new rights and responsibilities under the amendment to the Property (Relationships) Act 1984.

• damage to monuments and war memorials;
• terrorist activities;
• intoxicated persons;
• search warrants;
• listening devices;
• victims of crime and missing persons;
• pre-trial disclosure; and
• witnesses with intellectual disabilities.

• advising on legal matters relating to the Safe Injecting Room trial;
• cannabis and other drug cautioning schemes;
• changes to the Drug Court Act 1998 and continued monitoring of its operation;
• changes to the Children (Criminal Procedure) Act, 1987 and policy developments to assist the commencement of a Children’s Drug Court;
• changes to the Bail Act 1978 to allow for diversion to rehabilitation;
• the Magistrates Early Referral into Treatment pilot based at Lismore Court to identify drug offenders who would benefit from rehabilitation programs;
• changes to sentencing law to allow for diversion of those offenders in need of rehabilitation; and
• participation with other agencies and departments in a whole of Government approach to the problems caused by drug and alcohol use and addiction.

• the development of new sentencing laws which implement a significant number of the NSW Law Reform Commission’s recommendations in its Report on Sentencing;
• a review of the age of criminal responsibility of children;
• the development of legislation providing for forensic procedures, pre-trial disclosure, and terrorist actions; and
• the release of draft exposure Bills for public comment and discussion on issues such as computer, property, and fraud offences, public order offences, police powers, and criminal procedures involving people with an intellectual disability and the mentally ill.

• implement legislative initiatives on:
• forensic procedures;
• new Apprehended Violence Order laws;
• Children’s Drug Court;
• Drug Summit initiatives; and
• pre-trial disclosure laws;
• provide support for Attorney General’s applications for sentencing guidelines;
• review legislation by release of Draft Exposure Bills on:
• intellectual disability/mental health and criminal procedure;
• police powers;
• property, fraud and related offences;
• criminal appeal and review; and
• continue to review laws relating to people with intellectual disabilities.

Goal: Contribute to the development of a legal system and laws in NSW that further the principles of justice and contribute to the achievement of the goals of the Government.

LRC published five reports during the year which provided the Attorney General and the Government with advice on how key areas of law may be amended to better meet the needs of the people of NSW. These reports are:

• Report No 90: Review of the Community Services (Complaints, Appeals and Monitoring) Act 1993 (NSW);
• Report No 91: Review of the Disability Services Act 1993 (NSW);
• Report No 92: Review of the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 (NSW);
• Report No 93: Review of Section 316 of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW);
• Report No 94: Set-off.
  

• contempt by publication;
• the law relating to third party guarantees;
• the Property (Relationships) Act 1984 (NSW);
• Part 10 of the Legal Profession Act 1987 (NSW); and
• sentencing: the Commission has published a report on the general principles of sentencing (Report 79) and will shortly publish a report on sentencing of Aboriginal offenders. It will then proceed to examine issues relating to the sentencing of juveniles, women, people from a non-English-speaking background, people with disabilities, and corporate offenders.

• a review of Part 10 of the Legal Profession Act 1987 (NSW);
• a review of the Listening Devices Act 1984 (NSW) and the use of video surveillance in public places;
• uniform succession laws - administration of estates;
• contempt by publication; and
• the rule in Pigot’s case.
  
  
  

• Criminal Procedure (Sexual Assault Communications Privilege) Act 1999
  This Act clarified and expanded the privilege that could be claimed with respect to confidences given and received in the course of sexual assault counselling. The amendments were necessary as a result of the Court of Criminal Appeal case of R v Young [1999] NSWCCA 166 which found that the privilege was not available for documents produced on subpoena and declined to extend the common law of public interest immunity to cover confidences given and received in the course of sexual assault counselling.
  
• Local Courts Amendment (Part-Time Magistrates) Act 1999

• Professional Standards Amendment Act 1999

• Crimes and Courts Legislation Amendment Act 1999