Two Bills relating to the sentencing of persons found guilty of offences relating to the death of a child are soon to be considered by State Parliament – the Criminal Code and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2019 plus theCriminal Code and Other Legislation (Mason Jett Lee) Amendment Bill 2019which is a Private Member’s Bill put forward by the LNP Opposition. As a stakeholder, PeakCare has the opportunity to provide information in response to the Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee’s invitation calling for submissions to their inquiries into both Bills.
In summary, both are attempting to respond to mounting community concern about the inadequacy of sentences in child homicide cases. One Bill proposes to amend legislation so that a child’s vulnerability must be considered as an aggravating factor in sentencing and also proposes to expand the definition of murder to capture a number of matters which would currently proceed as manslaughter, and the second bill proposes mandatory non-parole periods for murder (25 years) and a new offence of child homicide (15 years).
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