A shift in power on proceeds of crime legislation from the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions to the AFP has prompted concerns from lawyers.
Crime
Political snippets: A better educated lot
The median sentence length was longest for defendants sentenced to a custodial order in New South Wales and the Northern Territory (both 36 months) and shortest in the Australian Capital Territory (17 months).
Hands up who failed stats: Overland resigns
The Victorian Ombudsman has found that Police Commissioner Simon Overland was solely responsible for the release of assault statistics he knew were bodgie just before the Victorian election.
Daily Proposition: A night of shifty women and dirty rats
We can never really have enough historical Australian documentaries, writes Matt Smith of Crikey comedy blog Laugh Track.
Political snippets: Boring is a speech by Wayne Swan
No people in their right mind would go to listen to a speech by Treasurer Wayne Swan to be spellbound by great oratory.
Crime reporting, Indian style
Not every country views the newspaper as form of restrained reporting with non-emotive language. Scott Bridges examines the crime reporting from newspapers in India.
Results are black and white on police race bias
If you are young and Indigenous, then authorities are far more likely to arrest you, pursue the case to court, convict you and send you to jail. Non-indigenous youths are more likely to be let off with a warning.
What crimes are considered worse than others?
The Australian Bureau of Statistics has just released their attempt to list crimes in Australia by ranking of seriousness. Where does counterfeiting rank in relation to prostitution? Find out here.
Mexican drug cartels recruit young men for murder-for-hire rings
In the minds of many Americans, the Rio Grande divides Mexico, a corrupt land where drug cartels have the upper hand, from the US, a nation of law and order, where the authorities keep criminal gangs in check. But in reality, the border is much more blurred.
Lacey brothers jailed for shooting: now the post mortem
The Lacey affair has placed Queensland’s criminal justice system under a considerable strain. But somehow the Courier-Mail has taken only a passing interest.
Why is April so nutty?
Next week the US will commemorate the 16th anniversary of Waco and the 14th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing. Tomorrow is the 2nd anniversary of the Virginia Tech massacre. What’s with April?
Fairfax goes for the unpaid underbelly of Australian acting
The local film industry is notoriously frugal when it comes to paying proper wages, but it seems Fairfax Digital hoped to go one better, writes Andrew Crook.
