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Download (852 Kib) (PDF) Offi ce of the Director of Public Prosecutions Annual Report 2005–06 27 November 2006 The Honourable Kerry Shine MP Attorney-General and Minister for Justice and Minister Assisting the Premier in Western Queensland Parliament House BRISBANE QLD 4000 Dear Mr Attorney Pursuant to section 16(1) of the Director of Public Prosecutions Act 1984, I present to you a report on the operations of the Offi ce of the Director of Public Prosecutions for the fi nancial year of 1 July 2005 to 30 June 2006. This is the twentieth full-year report furnished regarding the operations of the Offi ce. Director’s guidelines are also included pursuant to the requirement of section 11(2)(b) of the Director of Public Prosecutions Act. Yours faithfully L J Clare DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS Level 5 State Law Building 50 Ann Street Brisbane GPO Box 2403 Brisbane Queensland 4001 Australia DX 40170 Telephone: +61 7 3239 6840 Facsimile: +61 7 3220 0035 Website: www.justice.qld.gov.au ABN 13 846 673 994 1 2 TableTabl eof ocontentsf contents Director’s overview . 4 Introduction . 7 Organisation of the Offi ce . 8 Prosecution achievements 2005–06 . 10 Victim liaison services . 17 Regional offi ces . 18 Training . 22 Glossary of terms . 24 Appendix 1 Director’s guidelines . 29 Appendix 2 Budget and expenditure . 76 Appendix 3 Staffi ng levels/establishment . 77 3 4 Director’sDirector overview’s overview The Offi ce of the Director of Public Prosecutions has a strong record of achievement for 2005–06. It refl ects the professionalism, energy and commitment of everyone who works here. We have about 270 staff across Queensland. These include 55 trial prosecutors, 76 case lawyers, and 15 victim liaison offi cers. Together we prepared 7500 criminal cases (including 2700 committal hearings) and completed the prosecution of more than 6000 cases. We also pursued 470 breached sentences, argued 560 appeals and appeared in 200 hearings before the Mental Health Court. We travelled around the State to 250 hearings of the Mental Health Review Tribunal. Many of us spent months away from home and family to prosecute criminal circuits in 35 regional and remote centres. We had 48 000 registered contacts with victims. Our small team engaged in the recovery of proceeds of crime under Queensland’s civil confi scations scheme also achieved tremendous success, restraining $11 million and permanently forfeiting $2 million to the state. Australian Bureau of Statistics criminal court statistics reveal that the Queensland ODPP prosecutes more people in the higher courts than any other Australian prosecution service. More than a third of the total of all accused people prosecuted in Australia’s higher courts are prosecuted in Queensland. This is a result of the limited jurisdiction of the Magistrates Court in Queensland. Proposed reforms to expand the jurisdiction of the Magistrates Court could reduce both costs and delays in the criminal justice system. We prosecute vigorously and fairly. We seek safe convictions in which the public can have confi dence. Our restructure into small legal teams of prosecution chambers has proved successful. The tiered experience levels within chambers are designed to equip our people with the skills and support they need to do their job as well as it can be done. While our model of continuous case ownership has been impaired by the complexities of court listings and upheaval amongst junior staff, our cases continue to benefi t from earlier intervention, with earlier resolution of appropriate charges, earlier discontinuance of those cases which are unsustainable and timelier pleas of guilty. I expect the next annual report will refl ect more pronounced benefi ts to the quality of the prosecution service, when the membership of the various Brisbane chambers are fi nally collocated. We have introduced new processes to ensure that the delivery of prosecution work is consistent across the State. Work on the development of an automated case management system continues in consultation with staff at every level. The expectation is that the system will be in operation by late 2007. Its application will allow us to effectively manage and measure workload and to account for its performance. The accumulation of that reliable and comprehensive data will offer a more complete picture of the work that we are doing and highlight areas of greatest need. We have begun a prosecution support service with the appointment of two highly-skilled managers in human resources and fi nance. We have met our fi rst priority of converting all agency positions into contract positions and increasing the number of permanent appointments. We received funding for four additional crown prosecutors and three support offi cers to assist in the delivery of services for affected child witness cases. A longstanding challenge for the practice, however, has been to attract suitably experienced applicants for legal positions, especially in regional chambers. In 2005–06 a total of fi ve Crown prosecutors were permanently appointed. The selection process for prosecutor positions had followed an extended period of development of internal staff, in which legal offi cers were given the opportunity to develop the necessary skills by acting in vacant prosecutor positions. Regrettably, repeated recruitment processes for legal positions in Toowoomba, Cairns, Beenleigh and Maroochydore failed to attract a viable fi eld of candidates. The market for legal services is contracting. Prosecuting is a specialist fi eld. Even lawyers interested in criminal law can fi nd themselves unsuited to our work because of the high level of personal resilience required, the lifestyle sacrifi ces inherent in the work, and the level of salary. The greatest turnover of staff is at the junior levels. While 18 of our 55 prosecutors have more than 15 years experience, the practice needs to attract and retain new prosecutors. There is a shortage of experienced prosecutors across Australia and overseas. There is no obvious sign this will improve in the short term. Most of the training to build the skills, capabilities and diversity of our people continues to come from within the ODPP, with particular emphasis on the special requirements of vulnerable witnesses. This year we also had the opportunity to send four prosecutors to the United States for cutting edge training in the prosecution of online crimes against children. Those courses were generously provided free of charge by the National Association of District Attorneys. Locally a further 26 legal offi cers completed the Evidence and Advocacy workshops designed specifi cally for our practice. We have been participating in the Queensland Police Service prosecution review committees to allow early identifi cation of any systemic issues in the prosecution of sexual offences. We have also undertaken a heavy schedule in relation to police training. I thank all staff for the achievements of this year. I also thank the former Attorney-General the Honourable Linda Lavarch and the out going Director-General Rachel Hunter for their support for the resourcing of the practice, and in particular, for their responsiveness to the pressing accommodation needs of Brisbane, Townsville and Beenleigh chambers. Townsville chambers has moved out of its ‘temporary’ home in the court complex into much improved circumstances nearby, and Beenleigh secured its move to professional premises close to the courthouse for October 2006. The provision of professional offi ces for the Brisbane chambers should also be completed early in the next fi nancial year. Vulnerable witnesses The largest proportion of our victims of sexual crime is children and those who are intellectually impaired. What makes them vulnerable to offenders also make those groups vulnerable witnesses. They are more likely to be disadvantaged or severely traumatised by the process. The adversarial contest is least effective in relation to vulnerable witnesses. Obviously justice fails if a large number of witnesses capable of giving reliable probative evidence are shut down, not for want of credibility but because they are unable to cope with the procedures. The Evidence (Protection of Children) Amendment Act 2003 has substantially improved the access of children to justice in Queensland. The Act commenced operation in 2004. It recognises that witnesses capable of giving a reliable and probative account can be so traumatised or so disadvantaged by the process that they are unable to give that evidence in the usual way. Now child witnesses are only required to testify once, their evidence is video-recorded as quickly as possible and it is preserved for all future proceedings. Up until pre-recording in 2004, children who found the stamina to proceed were forced to sit outside the court for hours waiting through protracted argument and adjournments. This is not to mention the delays in getting the matter to trial, which could take up to two years. At the committal hearing child witnesses were commonly manipulated, intimidated and confused. The complaints of many intelligent, credible children did not make it to trial because those children had no prospect of withstanding the ordeal. 5 6 The impact of the new legislation, supported by the appointment of four additional Crown prosecutors and the roll out of remote witness rooms and recording facilities across the State, has had a dramatic impact. Over the last 18 months, the number of child abuse cases actually going forward and the number of convictions have multiplied. For example, the number of accused persons prosecuted in the District Court in Brisbane for offences against children rose from 74 in 2004 to 277 in 2005, with 213 of those 277 prosecuted ultimately pleading guilty. The system has therefore become more effective in the protection of children. It has done this without compromising the presumption of innocence or the accused person’s right to a fair trial. Yet there is still room for improvement in the treatment of vulnerable witnesses.
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