What is the Bugmy Bar Book? Launched in 2019, the Bugmy Bar Book is a free, evidence-based resource hosted on the website of the NSW Public Defenders. The project publishes accessible summaries […]

Circle sentencing for Aboriginal offenders was introduced in New South Wales on a trial basis at Nowra in February 2002. This article summarises the findings of a review and evaluation […]

Circle Courts are designed to educate the community on issues surrounding offending and the promotion and enrichment of Aboriginal culture and family values. Circle sentencing operates on the belief that […]

This article identifies some of the major differences between Aboriginal English and General Australian English. It provides some examples which might be helpful for judicial officers communicating with Aboriginal people.

New Zealand has a very high rate of imprisonment when contrasted with other comparable countries. Nevertheless New Zealand also has a number of initiatives and projects which seek to engage […]

This report examines the link between sentencing in the Magistrates’ Court of Victoria and the over-representation of Koori people in Victoria’s prisons. The focus of this examination is a comparison […]

This report is the final of three evaluation reports developed as part of an evaluation of the County Koori Court pilot program undertaken from 2009 to 2011. It analyses both […]

This article briefly describes a number of alternative courts for sentencing Indigenous offenders which have been established throughout Australia. The initiatives described are circle sentencing in New South Wales; Koori […]

The use of Indigenous sentencing courts and cases of family violence received criticism in ‘The Australian’ for being too lenient in R v Morgan. The criticisms related to the Court […]

The Commonwealth Crimes Amendment (Bail and Sentencing) Act 2006 was introduced following significant media attention in 2005-06 which focused on allegations of widespread family violence and child abuse in remote […]