criminal justice Archives - Queensland Advocacy Incorporated

Criminal Code (Child Sexual Offences Reform) Submission

QAI made a submission in regards to the Criminal Code (Child Sexual Offences Reform) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill.

Here is an excerpt from the submission of our recommendations:

Recommendations

QAI supports the measures in the Bill.
The State Government must do more to ensure that people with intellectual disability who have committed very minor sexual offences get better support in the community rather than detention.
Take steps to improve the supports, particularly behaviour supports, available to people with intellectual disability who have been convicted of child sexual offences.

You can read the full submission here.

Ministerial back-flip on disability pension a lifesaver

QAI Media release

December 2018

Ministerial backflip on pension is a lifesaver for people with disability.

The Australian Federation of Disability Organizations (AFDO), the Disability Advocacy Network of Australia (DANA) and QAI went to Canberra last week to convince federal politicians to oppose the 2019 budget measure. Their work, with support from many others, has saved lives. Department of Social Services Minister Fletcher has reversed the policy measure in response. Essential income support to people with disabilities who exit prison will be available to them still.

Prisoners with disabilities who exit jail ordinarily move straight back onto the Disability Support Pension (DSP) if they serve less than two years in prison, but the Federal Government planned to change that by reducing the suspension time to 13 weeks. DSS would have implemented the budget measure from 1 January 2019.

People with intellectual disability are imprisoned at about five times the rate of the general population in Australia and their socioeconomic circumstances after release from prison are more indicative of re-offending than the prison term itself.¹ Making people reapply for the DSP is the same as taking income support away, and the consequences are devastating.

Research tells us that the first six weeks out of prison are the hardest: a place to live, food, and finding work depend on getting income support. The suicide rate of released prisoners spikes around six weeks. Access to an income, and the related ability to obtain appropriate housing and necessities has a direct impact on whether a person re-offender, breaches parole or self-harms.

Graph showing the over representation of people with intellectual disabilities in Queensland justice system

Inquiry into imprisonment and recidivism – Queensland Productivity Commission

The Queensland Government asked the Queensland Productivity Commission to determine how government resources and policies may be best used to reduce imprisonment and recidivism to improve outcomes for the community.

QAI had a lot to say about this, having published editions of Disabled Justice in 2007 and 2014. Ten percent of prisoners in this state have intellectual disability. That’s five times the rate of the general population. Up to 30% of prisoners have some form of disability. Recidivism of Queensland prisoners who have intellectual disabilities is twice that of other prisoners: general recidivism is 38%, but 68% of prisoners with intellectual disability return to jail.

QAI’s submission to the Queensland Productivity Commission

Circular chart about the importance of the separation of powers

Protecting Queenslanders: QAI submission is critical of Queensland bill that would give the Premier power to make decisions on monitoring of people with disability convicted of sexual offences

The QAI submission to the Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee Inquiry into the Bill 2018 (‘the Bill’) opposes the Bill in general, and is critical of a number of provisions in the Bill proposed by Mr David Janetzki MP, the Member for Toowoomba South. In particular, QAI opposes the provision that would give the Premier power to make decisions on monitoring of people with disability convicted of sexual offences.

QAI told the Committee that the Bill:

.. [p]otentially departs from fundamental legislative principles because it mandates administrative rather than judicial power to review indeterminate supervision, undermining the separation of powers and the necessary checks and balances critical to the effective operation of our Westminster-based political system.

QAI’s Dr Nick Collyer appeared at the Committee’s public hearing, stating in his evidence to the Committee that:

For the vast majority of victims of sexual abuse, it is not about the stranger hiding in the dark alleyway or the paedophile in the playground. Most sexual assaults and rapes are committed by someone the victim knows. Among victims aged 18 to 19, two-thirds had a prior relationship with the offender. Most child sexual abuse is committed by men—90 per cent—and by persons known to the child—70 to 90 per cent—with family members constituting one-third to one-half of the perpetrators against girls and 10 to 20 per cent of the perpetrators against boys. According to one study, one in six Australian women were physically or sexually abused by the age of 15, one in three Australian women have experienced physical violence since the age of 15 and on average one Australian woman is murdered per week by her current or her former partner.

Full Hansard transcript

QAI’s Dr Collyer on Parliament TV

The Committee’s reporting due date is Tuesday, 19 March 2019.

Presentations at the ANZAPPL Congress 2018

QAI mental health lawyers Jo Sampford and Niamh Fields presented at the Australian and New Zealand Association of Psychiatrist, Psychology and Law (ANZAPPL) Congress 2018.

Find their presentations below:

“Is this to be their fate for the indefinite future?” Judicial interest in systemic issues in Queensland”, Niamh Fields
“Lost and found in translation: Cross-disciplinary conversations between lawyers and doctors”, Jo Sampford

Let’s Nix 216

Section 216 of our Queensland Criminal Code makes it unlawful (i.e. a criminal offence) for any person to have intimate relations (i.e. sex!) with another person who has ‘impairment of the mind’, which is defined broadly in the Criminal Code and includes any person with an intellectual, psychiatric, cognitive or neurological impairment that results in a substantial reduction in that person’s capacity for communication, social interaction or learning, and that person needing support.

That’s long-winded, so, for example, someone such as Stephen Hawking likely would have fit the definition, as would many people who have cerebral palsy that makes communication difficult without support, or intellectual disability.

Notice that there’s nothing there about decision-making capacity. Parliament framed section 216 on the assumption that if you fit the definition you are not capable of making a decision about whether you can/want to have sex. Consent, or not, does not matter.

The provision is discriminatory. It’s less favourable to many people with disability, and indeed many people who fit the definition of ‘person who has impairment of the mind’ are in relationships, including marriages, to other people who fit this definition.

Let’s nix 216!

OPCAT in Australia

QAI submission – OPCAT in Australia – to the Australian Human Rights Commission

QAI submission to the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on the General Comment on Equality and Non-discrimination (Article 5)

QAI submission Equality and Non- discrimination (Article 5)171114 FINAL

Police Shoot, Kill 5: Coroner’s Recommendations Implemented

The Queensland Police Service has responded to the Coroner’s recommendations from the inquiry into the deaths of –

Anthony William Young
Shaun Basil Kumeroa
Edward Wayne Logan
Laval Donovan Zimmer
Troy Martin Foster

The Coroner adopted all three of QAI’s recommendations in our submissions, namely, for:

The revitalisation of the Mental Health Intervention Project and the delivery of annual mental health training for all operational police
QPS training scenarios that involve people with lived experience of mental illness
A focus on high-level communication skills and counselling experience for police officers, including 000 call-takers.

We are pleased to see that the QPS is implementing the Coroner’s recommendations, although a few are still ‘under consideration’. In particular, with regard to Recommendation 14.

“The Queensland Police Service retain mental health training as a core component of the recruit and first year constable training programmes.
The mental health training component enables participants to identify and understand characteristics of impaired mental capacity; to understand and appreciate the policing with influence model for verbal de-escalation in a policing context; and to apply effective communication skills for responding to and managing situations where a person presents with an impaired mental capacity in accordance with legislation.”

Queensland Advocacy Incorporated and the Queensland Coronial Inquiry into Police Shootings of People with Mental Illness (2)

The Coroner granted Queensland Advocacy Incorporated ( Q.A.I. ) leave to appear in this Inquiry as a ‘specialist advocacy group’ that has a ‘sufficient interest’ pursuant to s36(1)(c) of the Coroners Act 2003 (Qld) (‘the Act’). The Coroner recognised QAI’s expertise in systemic issues and we confined our involvement to recommendations in relation to the death of Laval Zimmer making submissions about matters on which the Coroner may comment under section 46(1), including:

(a) public health or safety; or

(b) the administration of justice; or

Queensland Advocacy Incorporated instructed Frank Walsh for the ‘fact-finding’ or ‘investigative’ stage of the Inquiry, and Steven Jones for the ‘recommendations’ phase. Consistent with our expertise in mental health, and with our early submissions about questions to be raised at the investigative phase, QAI made recommendations in relation to the following two issues:

- Issue 6: The adequacy and appropriateness of QPS policies, procedures and training in relation to police dealing with mental health incidents, including the adequacy of the availability of information/records from Queensland Health, and other medical practitioners, regarding mental health history of persons to the QPS;
- Issue 12: QPS policies, procedures and training for Police Communications personnel.

1. Background to the Shooting of Mr Zimmer

Owing to a tragic communications bungle, five Queensland Police Service (QPS) officers entered Laval Zimmer’s suburban share-home at Kippa-Ring on Brisbane’s north-side at 1.00 am on 24 November 2014 to investigate a ‘nuisance’ caller. Two officers shot Mr Zimmer as he stood in the doorway to his room, allegedly with a knife raised in his hand. Mr Zimmer fell face down into the hallway. Officers immediately cuffed Mr Zimmer’s hands behind his back. He died minutes later.

Mr Zimmer was on the phone to QPS’ Policelink service when he was killed. He was making a complaint about police conduct earlier that day. Described in the Courier Mail as a ‘loyal and lovable mate’ looking to secure long-term housing and finish his high-school education, Laval also had chronic epilepsy and mental illness.

2. Mental Illness

The other four men shot dead by police also had mental illness. Police spend on average around ten percent of their time dealing with people who appear to be mentally ill. Some estimates have this figure as high as twenty percent. Interviews with mental health consumers have uncovered a perception that police fear them, and fear prompts police to pre-emptively escalate conflict.

The Coroner has since determined that the attending officers were acting lawfully, but QAI’s view was and always will be that Laval Zimmer’s death could have been avoided if the police had better communications systems in place and had better Operational Skills and Tactics training in mental health.

3. Submissions to the Coroner

Queensland Advocacy Incorporated’s pro bono barristers Frank Walsh and Stephen Jones examined witnesses and made submissions at the ‘fact-finding’ and ‘recommendations’ phases of the Inquiry throughout 2016 and early 2017. Our submissions recommended more and better training for police about disability and mental health, including:

The revitalisation of the Mental Health Intervention Project and the delivery of annual mental health training for all operational police
QPS training scenarios that involve people with lived experience of mental illness
A focus on high-level communication skills and counselling experience for police officers, including 000 call-takers.

About the Police, the Court and Lawyers – What to do and what not to do

The Justice Support Program (JSP) assists and advocates for people with intellectual disability who have been charged with an offence. We have produced a book “About the Police, the Court and Lawyers – What to do and what not to do”

The book uses plain English and simple illustrations to guide Dan (who has an intellectual disability) and Hannah (who Dan needs to help him make decisions about everyday things) through the criminal justice process in Queensland. The book is funded by the Legal Aid Queensland Community Legal Education Collaboration Fund and produced by JSP in collaboration with the Endeavour Foundation.

We consulted widely with individuals (including JSP clients) as well as staff and clientele of the Endeavour Foundation to ensure that the book is as easy to understand and remember as such a difficult subject can be for people who have had little or no experience of the Police and the criminal Court.

Being arrested or questioned by the police or having to go to court is not something you would expect a person like Dan to cope with by himself, so the book is designed to be read by a parent, carer or support worker to the person with intellectual impairment, this way they both learn their roles and “What to do and what not to do.”

If you know of someone like Dan who would be vulnerable in such a situation we encourage you to download or contact QAI to order a free printed copy for ‘Dan’ to keep after it’s been read to him.

We’ve also produced a series of YouTube videos of the book which can be accessed below or through this link: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfSpAAkJaIIJQntMaJ5ciPdgQYPgyBi9n

CLICK HERE FOR THE PDF COPY OF THE BOOK