1 PUBLIC JUSTICE OFFENCES Hindering Investigations
PUBLIC JUSTICE OFFENCES Hindering investigations; concealing offences and attempting to pervert the course of justice Reasonable Cause Criminal Law CLE Conference 28 March 2015 Part 7 of the Crimes Act 1900 was introduced as a package of Public Justice Offences inserted into the Crimes Act in 1990.1 The purpose of the package was to create a comprehensive statement of the law relating to public justice offences which, until the enactment of the amendments, was described by the then Attorney General Mr John Dowd as “fragmented and confusing, consisting of various common law and statutory provisions, with many gaps, anomalies and uncertainties”.2 Part 7 Division 2 deals broadly with offences concerning the interference in the administration of justice. This paper does not aim to cover every aspect of the package of public justice offences but focuses on the principal offences incorporated within Division 2, being Ss. 315, 316 and 319 offences, and their common law equivalents. Background Up until 25 November 1990, the various common law offences including misprision of felony, hindering an investigation, compounding a felony and perverting the course of justice, to name a few, operated, until abolished by the Crimes (Public Justice) Amendment Act 19903. From 25 November 1990, Part 7 of the Crimes Act 1900 provided for ‘public justice offences’ broadly described as offences targeting interference with the administration 1 Inserted by the Crimes (Public Justice) Amendment Act 1990 (NSW) s 3, Sch 1. 2 New South Wales, Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) Legislative Assembly, 17 May 1990, the Hon JRA Dowd, Attorney General, Second Reading Speech at 3692.
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