LSB July 2018_Web

PROFILE
Child safety has also been a hallmark of
Ms Chapman’s first three months in office,
and perhaps because of her background in
child protection litigation, is an area that
inflames her passions.
CARLY’S LAW
Carly’s Law is the colloquial name given
to a national law targeting online predators
who lie about themselves for the purposes
of pursuing sexual relations with a minor.
It was named in honour of SA schoolgirl
Carly Ryan, who was killed by a 50-year-old
man who pretended to be a 20-year-old
surfer.
Ms Chapman said the Federal law was not
robust enough, hence the need for a South
Australian version.
“The Federal legislation is not very easily
practically applied, she said. “We had to
do something that was going to catch
bad people who are going online to cause
children harm before they get a chance to
meet them or exchange details with them.”
Under the South Australian Bill, which
was introduced on 10 May, intent to harm
does not need to be proved to capture the
accused. It is an offence to deliberately
lie about your age or identity online and
arrange to meet a child.
MANDATORY DRUG TREATMENT FOR
CHILDREN
With reports of an “ice epidemic” in
South Australia, Ms Chapman said she
supported the policy of compelling children
with drug addictions to undergo treatment.
Ms Chapman said: “Children are treated
differently (to adults) because they have a
level of immaturity which makes it really
hard for them to get out of a bad place.
The likelihood of them saying ‘it is very
irresponsible for me at 15 to be taking
drugs’ is almost zero”.
“This treatment program is really
designed to deal with those who have
got really hooked on drugs, so if there is
an established medical record that there
is an addiction, an identified pattern of
behaviour that’s an addiction, you can
get a Youth Court order …to direct that
they can be detained for the purpose of
treatment.”
“I expect I can count on two hands the
number of children that will actually be
the subject of something like this each
year, but quite frankly I’ve had 16 years
of reading letters from parents who say
‘my child is either dead or in prison or on
their way to either and I need help because
nobody can help me deal with this’.”
SECURE FACILITIES FOR AT-RISK CHILDREN
Ms Chapman said she was “absolutely
committed” to establishing secure,
therapeutic facilities for at-risk children
who do not have a safe home to go to,
citing recommendations from the Nyland
Royal Commission and Mullighan Inquiry
that such a facility be established. Ms
Chapman acknowledged the concerns
about detaining children who have not
been convicted of an offence but argued
there were some situations where children
were too great a risk to themselves and
others if left to wander the streets.
The Nyland Royal Commission report
said: “The obvious concern about such a
facility is that it could be regarded as a form of
incarceration, or simply used as a dumping ground
for difficult children. However, some children
have high needs that can be dealt with only if
they are kept securely in place for therapy. This
Commission considers that there is a need for such
a facility but that any such model should have the
safeguard of oversight by the Supreme Court.”
“These are children who are leaving
home and who are on drugs,” Ms
Chapman said. “Authorities historically
have said ‘if they don’t stay with their
parents and they don’t stay at ours then
there’s not much more we can do because
they haven’t committed an offence’. But
we need to have a secure facility which is
a locked door rather than let children be
on the street. If you are going to have a
secure facility for a child, you’ve got to
treat them while they’re in there. That’s
really my point and if it takes up to 12
months to do it, so be it. It’s better that
they have that time in there than actually
die or end up in prison.”
PROVOCATION
The SA Law Reform Institute recently
tabled its second and final report on
its inquiry into the partial defence of
provocation, recommending that the
defence of provocation be abolished and
other sentencing options be introduced
to provide more flexibility in imposing
murder sentences.
Ms Chapman said that reforms in this
area had important implications for
domestic violence related situations.
“It is concerning to me that the law at
the moment, as I see it, allows somebody
who is in a domestic violence situation
who kills their husband or partner to
either get a life sentence or nothing at all
and either way, that’s not suitable,” Ms
Chapman said.
“I have seen situations where somebody
has physically clearly killed somebody,
had the motivation to do it and they’ve
being found not guilty, as though it was
a complete self-defence. The law reform
is really in how we have a graduated
acknowledgement in the sentencing of
murder cases to take in to account the
circumstances surrounding domestic
violence, because they’re very important
and other jurisdictions have struggled with
it. I think that we can do some good work
there.”
MAJOR INDICTABLE REFORM
The major indictable reforms provisions
that came into effect in March got off to a
shaky start when, within days of the new
procedures being in place, two matters
were adjourned for more than 12 months.
The Society expressed concern about the
efficacy of the reforms at the time and still
holds reservations about the impact of the
procedures on court waiting times.
Ms Chapman said that the previous
Government brought in the reforms
without expanding the DPP, which she
says contributed to the extraordinarily long
adjournments being sought by prosecuting
authorities. But she believes some of the
kinks in the reforms will be ironed out.
“Our position on major indictable
reform has always been early disclosure is
important but if it’s going to be required
of the defence, it has to be met by the
prosecution,” she said.
“I think it’s fair to say that, on my
assessment, the judiciary are very
conscious about their courts progressing
in timely manners so they’re putting a clear
expectation on those who are doing the
preparation of these cases to get on with
it.” B
July 2018 THE BULLETIN 9