Page 2213 - Week 07 - Thursday, 23 June 2005
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Divisions 7.2.2 and 7.2.3 relate to conduct that generally falls under the common law offences of perverting or attempting to pervert the course of justice. Although the bill retains a general offence of perverting the course of justice, these two divisions will improve the effectiveness of the law by creating separate offences that more accurately target the wide range of specific activities involved in perverting the course of justice. They will also serve to enhance the community’s understanding of the seriousness with which the law views these matters. The two divisions include offences of making or using false evidence; destroying or concealing evidence; bribery of or by witnesses, interpreters, jurors and others involved in legal proceedings; preventing the production of evidence and the attendance of witnesses, interpreters and jurors and deceiving, threatening or taking reprisals against witnesses, interpreters, jurors and others involved in legal proceedings.
Division 7.2.4 includes the general offence of perverting the course of justice. In addition to ensuring that there are no gaps in this area of law, the bill offence will clarify the central fault element that applies, namely, intention to pervert the course of justice. The division also includes the offence of being an accessory after the fact. This offence closely follows the corresponding Crimes Act offence in section 181, although it is wider because it applies where a person assists someone he or she believes committed an offence, whereas the Crimes Act requires proof of knowledge.
Part 7.2 contains the summary offences I referred to earlier. These include offences of pleading guilty in another name; obstructing or hindering an investigation; failing to attend legal proceedings to give evidence; failing to produce documents and other things; failing to take the oath; failing to answer questions; a summary offence of giving false or misleading evidence and obstructing legal proceedings.
These provisions may seem minor, but they are critical to ensuring that legal proceedings are not thwarted simply by the passive resistance of potential witnesses or those in possession of important evidence. The effectiveness of the courts depends upon the participation of all citizens when called upon.
The codified offences in this bill will make it unnecessary to retain a large number of similar offences in various other acts and regulations throughout the ACT statute book. Accordingly, schedule 1 repeals numerous offences that will no longer be necessary because the conduct they cover will be covered by the codified offences in the bill. This is an important feature of this bill, not only because it will simplify and reduce the size of the statue book by eliminating unnecessary duplication, but also because it will advance the primary objective of the Criminal Code, which is to standardise and centralise offences so they are more easily understood and accessible.
I should finally mention that the bill will change the date for the full commencement of the Criminal Code from 1 January 2006 to 1 July 2007. At present chapter 2 of the Criminal Code generally applies to offences created after 1 January 2003. It was necessary to delay the application of chapter 2 to pre-January 2003 offences to allow time to harmonise them to conform to the general principles of criminal responsibility in the Criminal Code. The original deadline of 1 January 2006 has always been an ambitious one and although considerable progress has been made, it is clear now that that date cannot be met. There are at least another three chapters of the Criminal Code to be
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