Report April 2017 South Australian Law Reform Institute The Provoking Operation of Provocation: Stage 1 The South Australian Law Reform Institute was established in December 2010 by agreement between the Attorney-General of South Australia, the University of Adelaide and the Law Society of South Australia. It is based at the Adelaide University Law School. Postal address: SA Law Reform Institute Adelaide Law School University of Adelaide North Terrace Australia 5005 Telephone: (08) 8313 5582 Email: [email protected] Website: http://law.adelaide.edu.au/research/law-reform-institute Publications: SALRI publications, including this Report and the LGBTIQ Reports that preceded it, are available to download free of charge from the SALRI webpage under Publications: Reports and Papers. Suggested citation: David Plater, Lucy Line and Kate Fitz-Gibbon, The Provoking Operation of Provocation: Stage 1 (South Australian Law Reform Institute, Adelaide, 2017) Cover Illustration: The cover illustration is from: <http://willshub.com.au/sa-supreme-court-2/> Contents PARTICIPANTS ................................................................................................................................................................... V ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................................................................ V ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................................................................................................ VI EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................................... VII SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS ............................................................................................................................ XIII PART 1 – INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 BACKGROUND ................................................................................................................................................ 1 1.2 THE AUDIT REPORT ......................................................................................................................................... 1 1.3 CONSULTATION PROCESS ................................................................................................................................. 2 1.4 SOME NOTES ON TERMINOLOGY ....................................................................................................................... 3 PART 2 – BALANCING RIGHTS AND SALRI’S TERMS OF REFERENCE ........................................................................ 5 PART 3 – THE LAW RELATING TO PROVOCATION ................................................................................................. 10 3.1 BRIEF HISTORY AND PURPOSE ......................................................................................................................... 10 3.2 LAW IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA ............................................................................................................................. 12 3.3 OTHER JURISDICTIONS ................................................................................................................................... 15 3.4 QUEENSLAND............................................................................................................................................... 16 PART 4 – CRITICISMS OF THE PROVOCATION DEFENCE GENERALLY ..................................................................... 19 4.1 AN OVERVIEW OF THE CRITICISMS OF PROVOCATION........................................................................................... 19 4.2 VICTIM BLAMING .......................................................................................................................................... 24 PART 5 – THE ‘GAY PANIC’ DEFENCE .................................................................................................................... 29 5.1 A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE HOMOSEXUAL ADVANCE DEFENCE ................................................................................. 29 5.2 GREEN V THE QUEEN .................................................................................................................................... 30 5.3 R V LINDSAY ................................................................................................................................................ 31 5.4 FIRST LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE REVIEW ............................................................................................................ 34 5.5 CRITICISMS OF THE HOMOSEXUAL ADVANCE DEFENCE SPECIFICALLY ....................................................................... 37 5.6 EXCLUDING A NON-VIOLENT SEXUAL ADVANCE AS PROVOCATION ......................................................................... 40 PART 6 – GENDER BIAS AND PROVOCATION........................................................................................................ 44 6.1 PROVOCATION: A MAN’S LAW? ...................................................................................................................... 44 6.2 RESIDUAL PROVOCATION IN FAMILY VIOLENCE AND ELSEWHERE ............................................................................ 49 6.3 MARITAL COERCION ...................................................................................................................................... 51 6.4 KILLING FOR PRESERVATION IN AN ABUSIVE DOMESTIC RELATIONSHIP .................................................................... 54 PART 7 – ALTERNATIVE MODELS: PROVOCATION ................................................................................................ 56 7.1 ENGLAND .................................................................................................................................................... 56 7.2 NEW SOUTH WALES ..................................................................................................................................... 58 7.3 NSW MODEL: PROVOCATIVE CONDUCT AS A SERIOUS INDICTABLE OFFENCE ............................................................ 61 7.4 EXCLUDING A NON-VIOLENT SEXUAL ADVANCE AS PROVOCATION ......................................................................... 64 PART 8 – ISSUE OF SENTENCE .............................................................................................................................. 65 8.1 ISSUE FOR THE COURT AND ‘LABELS’ ................................................................................................................. 65 8.2 INTERACTION WITH MANDATORY SENTENCING ................................................................................................... 67 PART 9 – SELF-DEFENCE ....................................................................................................................................... 70 9.1 CRITICISMS OF THE CURRENT SOUTH AUSTRALIAN LAW OF SELF-DEFENCE ............................................................... 70 9.2 SELF-DEFENCE IN OTHER JURISDICTIONS ........................................................................................................... 73 Canada .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 73 New Zealand ............................................................................................................................................................................... 75 9.3 THE PARTIAL DEFENCE OF EXCESSIVE SELF-DEFENCE ........................................................................................... 77 iii 9.4 PROVIDING FOR VICTIMS OF FAMILY VIOLENCE – VICTORIA .................................................................................. 78 Self-defence as a Framework – Victoria ................................................................................................................................. 79 9.5 MODIFYING THE LAW OF SELF-DEFENCE IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA TO BETTER PROVIDE FOR THOSE WHO KILL IN RESPONSE TO FAMILY VIOLENCE .................................................................................................................................... 81 9.6 SOCIAL FRAMEWORK EVIDENCE ....................................................................................................................... 86 PART 10 – DURESS AND NECESSITY ..................................................................................................................... 91 PART 11 – DIMINISHED RESPONSIBILITY .............................................................................................................. 95 PART 12 – CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................................................... 97 APPENDIX 1 – ROUNDTABLE REPORT – 11 MAY 2016 .............................................................................................. 100 APPENDIX 2 – ROUNDTABLE REPORT – 12 MAY 2016 ............................................................................................. 107 APPENDIX 3 – CRIMINAL LAW CONSOLIDATION ACT 1935 (SA) ............................................................................... 114 APPENDIX