Abstract
Legislative initiatives to change the committal process are being considered by several Australian states. The papers at this conference summarise the debate surrounding committal hearings, presenting a number of different viewpoints. The papers consider whether committal hearings should be abolished and whether they take up too much court time, exacerbating delays in the criminal justice system. Some papers also examine whether committal hearings provide an effective mechanism for the early identification of guilty pleas and for filtering out weak cases.
Proceedings of a conference held 1-2 May 1990
Contents
- Committals again under the microscope
Peter A. Sallmann - Evaluating the committal
David Brereton and John Willis - The future of committal proceedings in New South Wales
Peter Berman - The case for the retention of committals in their present form is overwhelming
John Marsden - A critique of proposed committal reform in New South Wales
Clarrie Briese - Committal proceedings: the Victorian perspective
John Coldrey - The future of committals
Bryan J. Clothier - Moves in the Australian Capital Territory
Ron Cahill and Mark O'Neill - Disclosure of the prosecution case before trial
Ben Salmon - Committal proceedings in the Australian Capital Territory
Terry Higgins - A case for abolition
John Johnson - Committal for trial and pre-trial disclosure: some overseas perspectives
Bron McKillop - The future of committals - a defence lawyer's perspective
Terry O'Gorman - A Tasmanian defence lawyer's perspective
Alan Blow - The future of committal hearings: the victim/witness point of view
Andrew Paterson - A prosecution perspective
Mark Weinberg - Committals - time for change
John Murray - Committals in Victoria - a police perspective
Kerry Stephens - Publicity and committals
Jack Waterford - Judicial review of committal proceedings for federal offences
Bronwyn Naylor - Legal aid and committals
Mick O'Brien - Committals, offence classification and the jurisdiction of the Magistrate's Court
Matthew Goode