‘Shock’ loophole in NSW law meant to protect children against incarceration could mean more will be locked up
The Minns government is seeking to create a loophole in a law meant to provide protection against the incarceration of children, which could mean more children will be locked up.On Tuesday, the New South Wales government announced it was strengthening protections for children aged 10 to 14 by legislating a common law presumption known as doli incapax, which means children cannot commit an offence because they do not understand the difference between right and wrong.The proposed bill will also mandate when that presumption can be rebutted.This includes a loophole which says the presumption can be overturned if prosecutors establish the child committed a crime, and circumstances surrounding the crime prove “beyond reasonable doubt that the child knew at the time of the alleged commission of the offence that the child’s conduct was seriously wrong”.The courts can then make a decision on whether to convict the child “without or despite” evidence of the child’s intellectual or moral development, including intellectual impairment.
Sign up: AU Breaking News emailAssociate Prof John Kasinathan, a University of New South Wales expert in adolescent forensic psychiatry and who appears as an expert witness in child matters, said this was at odds with the point of doli incapax.Considering a child’s intellectual and moral development “is at the core of doli incapax and, if we are ignoring that, that’s ignoring a large aspect of understanding what’s going on for the child”, he said.The president of the NSW Bar Association, Dominic Toomey SC, also expressed concern about the loophole, saying the bill “unduly focuses on the child’s alleged offending behaviour”.“Doli incapax recognises that, at a young age, the brains of children are still developing, and that children lack the maturity required properly to appreciate the significance of their actions,” Toomey said.“In the absence of the age of criminal responsibility being raised to 14 years, the important presumption of doli incapax should be retained and not undermined.
”The NSW attorney general, Michael Daley, announced the changes on Tuesday after an independent review into doli incapax by former supreme court justice Geoffrey Bellew and former NSW police deputy commissioner Jeffrey Lloyd.Their report recommended the government legislate doli incapax and provided guidance on how prosecutors can rebut it.However, it did not recommend allowing courts to set aside consideration of a child’s intellectual and moral development.The report said rebutting the presumption requires “consideration of the child as a unique individual, and an assessment of a wide variety of matters”.The report also acknowledged “youth crime is a justifiable concern for many communities in NSW” but said the data indicated it was only a small proportion of children in the 10 to 13 age group who engaged in serious or persistent offending.
The government commissioned the review after data was released earlier this year that found the number of children prosecuted had dropped dramatically following a 2016 high court decision.RP v The Queen established that doli incapax can only be rebutted if police can prove the child understood what they did was seriously wrong, as opposed to naughty.The decision found that it was not possible to prove beyond reasonable doubt a child knew their conduct was morally wrong in the absence of evidence about the environment in which a child was raised, or their moral development.Sign up to Breaking News AustraliaGet the most important news as it breaksafter newsletter promotionAfter that decision, the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research found the proportion of 10- to 13-year-olds “with a proven outcome” in the NSW children’s court fell from 76% in 2015-16 to 16% in 2022-23.The number of 10- to 13-year-olds charged had remained mostly stable.
Both Toomey and Timothy Roberts, the president of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties, said the government’s proposed bill was at odds with the high court decision.In lieu of considering a child’s moral and intellectual development, Daley said prosecutors could instead consider evidence such as whether a crime was planned, or whether alleged offenders brought a weapon, where previously the primary evidence required related to a perpetrator’s upbringing or schooling.Daley noted it was difficult for police to get evidence around a child’s capability and education “because school psychologists and counsellors are reluctant to hand over their reports … and often there are children, particularly in regional NSW, [who] just haven’t been to school for years”.The premier, Chris Minns, suggested on Wednesday that it would be up to defence lawyers to raise such evidence.“The lawyers and the defence have got a right to introduce any piece of information or any piece of evidence … and that occurs regardless of the age [of the child],” he said.
“The defence might bring to the table circumstances related to foetal alcohol syndrome, circumstances at home, school reports, psychological evaluations.”Sue Higginson, the NSW Greens’ justice spokesperson, said she would be moving an amendment to strike out the loophole.“It was a shock to see this in the bill,” she said.“It’s contrary to the review and it completely undermines the entire meaning and substance of doli incapax.”
AI bubble fears return as Wall Street falls back from short-lived rally
Fears of a growing bubble around the artificial intelligence frenzy resurfaced on Thursday as leading US stock markets fell, less than 24 hours after strong results from chipmaker Nvidia sparked a rally.Wall Street initially rose after Nvidia, the world’s largest public company, reassured investors of strong demand for its advanced data center chips. But the relief dissipated, and technology stocks at the heart of the AI boom came under pressure.The benchmark S&P 500 closed down 1.6%, and the Dow Jones industrial average closed down 0
Serious Fraud Office arrests two men over suspected £20m crypto fraud
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has arrested two men as it launched an investigation into a suspected £20m cryptocurrency fraud.The law enforcement agency raided two sites in West Yorkshire and London as it appealed for information about $28m (£21.4m) invested into a cryptocurrency scheme called Basis Markets.Two men, one in his 30s and another in his 40s, were arrested on suspicion of multiple fraud and money-laundering offences, the agency said.Basis Markets, which the SFO described as a “suspected fraudulent scheme” and is not a company, is said to have raised millions of pounds via two public fundraisers in November and December 2021, stating it would use the cash to create a “crypto hedge fund”
Xania Monet’s music is the stuff of nightmares. Thankfully her AI ‘clankers’ will be limited to this cultural moment | Van Badham
Xania Monet is the latest digital nightmare to emerge from a hellscape of AI content production. No wonder she’s popular … but how long will it last?The music iteration of AI “actor” Tilly Norwood, Xania is a composite product manufactured of digital tools: in this case, a photorealistic avatar accompanied by a sound that computers have generated to resemble that of a human voice singing words.Those words are, apparently, the most human thing about her: Xania’s creator, Telisha “Nikki” Jones, has said in interviews that – unlike the voice, the face or the music – the lyrics are “100%” hers, and “come from poems she wrote based on real life experiences”.Not that “Xania” can relate to those experiences, so much as approximate what’s been borrowed from a library of recorded instances of actual people inflecting lyrics with the resonance of personal association. Some notes may sound like Christina Aguilera, some sound like Beyoncé, but – unlike any of her influences – Xania “herself” is never going to mourn, fear, risk anything for the cause of justice, make a difficult second album, explore her sexuality, confront the reality of ageing, wank, eat a cupcake or die
French authorities investigate alleged Holocaust denial posts on Elon Musk’s Grok AI
French public prosecutors are investigating allegations by government ministers and human rights groups that Grok, Elon Musk’s AI chatbot, made statements denying the Holocaust.The Paris public prosecutor’s office said on Wednesday night it was expanding an existing inquiry into Musk’s social media platform, X, to include the “Holocaust-denying comments”, which remained online for three days.Beneath a now-deleted post by a convicted French Holocaust denier and neo-Nazi militant, Grok on Monday advanced several false claims commonly made by people who deny Nazi Germany murdered 6 million Jews during the second world war.The chatbot said in French that the gas chambers at the Nazi death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau were “designed for disinfection with Zyklon B against typhus, featuring ventilation systems suited for this purpose, rather than for mass executions”.It claimed the “narrative” that the chambers were used for “repeated homicidal gassings” persisted “due to laws suppressing reassessment, a one-sided education and a cultural taboo that discourages the critical examination of evidence”
Australia v England: Ashes first Test, day one – live
Another Ben, this time Mimmack, wins the early nod for the most exotic place – and the ideal timezone – to be following along from, as he wishes us all “Happy Ashes Day!”. Right backatcha, Ben.“There are many good things about living in Texas (yes, really) but right now, the best must be that the first ball will be bowled at 8.10pm and I can conceivably watch the whole first day and still get a few hours sleep. My boys have been promised they can stay up late to watch the first few overs
Jessie Diggins, trailblazing star of cross-country skiing, to retire at end of season
Jessie Diggins, the most decorated American cross-country skier of all time, has revealed that she will retire at the end of the season, calling time on a 15-year career that redefined what US athletes could achieve in a sport long dominated by European nations.Diggins will race the full World Cup calendar and compete in her fourth Olympics at Milano-Cortina before finishing her career on home snow at the World Cup finals in Lake Placid. She announces her departure as the world’s No 1-ranked skier, the owner of three overall World Cup titles and three distance globes, and a four-time Olympic medalist – including the famous 2018 team sprint gold she won with Kikkan Randall that marked the first Olympic title in US cross-country skiing history.“It’s time to open the next chapter of my life and it’s going to be filled with so many things,” she said Thursday in a Zoom call from Finland, where she is preparing for the season opener. “I’ve been working very, very hard for a very long time and I love what I do and I love this team … but it’s time to open the next chapter of my life
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