Judges, DPP slam Brumby’s justice failures

Victoria’s judges and the Director of Public Prosecutions have launched outspoken attacks on the Brumby Government’s justice system failures, which include inadequate sentences, growing delays and compromising the standards of judicial education, in scathing annual reports tabled today.

Director of Public Prosecutions Jeremy Rapke has confirmed the Victorian Liberal Nationals Coalition’s ongoing concerns about inadequate sentencing in Victoria and the need to abolish suspended sentences for all crimes by highlighting the absurdity of the DPP showing that there are serious questions about the adequacy of various suspended sentences yet being criticised for having brought an appeal against them.

“The DPP’s report confirms the Coalition’s long-held concerns that under John Brumby’s soft-on-crime approach sentences in Victoria are neither fair nor effective,” Shadow Attorney-General Robert Clark said today.

As Mr Rapke points out: ‘So a court imposes what in my opinion was an inadequate sentence on a person who has hidden for two years after being investigated by the police for behaving in a despicable and cowardly manner. Despite my best efforts, it is nearly a year before the appeal is heard. The appeal is then dismissed on the ground, among others, of delay and I am criticised for instituting the appeal’. (p7, DPP 2009-10 Annual Report)

“The government’s recent changes to the law about sentencing on appeals have left the situation hopelessly unclear, and the law needs to put beyond doubt that the DPP is entitled to appeal and have a sentence overturned if the sentence is manifestly inadequate,” Mr Clark said.

County Court Chief Judge Michael Rozenes has also highlighted growing delays in bringing cases to trial and criticised the government for failing to properly plan the introduction of new laws, saying: ‘It has been difficult to respond to the time limitations with respect to special hearings and sex trials … The impacts have been felt particularly in regional courts where the hearing of sex offence cases has often been at the expense of the general list. With … the increasing complexity of the law, resources have been stretched to the limit. … it is apparent that [legislative] changes bring with them pressure on resources which ought to have been taken into account in planning for legislative change. (p5, County Court 2008-09 Annual Report)

The Chief Justice of Victoria, Marilyn Warren, has also slammed the government over the government’s handling of judicial complaints legislation, stating that: ‘The Board [of the Judicial College of Victoria] is extremely disappointed by the announcement. Judicial education … must not be compromised … We hope that aspiration is not frustrated by the new commission’. (p5, Judicial College of Victoria 2009-10 Annual Report)