I KNOW the rate of crime in Perth is increasing beyond anything we have ever experienced before, but has it reached the stage where no one really cares any more?
THE real problem with the proposal to refuse parole where no body is recovered is that not everyone convicted of a homicide offence will know where the body is.
THE courts regularly deal with recidivist offenders who have never even held a driver’s licence, and are hardly likely to comply with a direction not to drive.
“Something like 50 to 100 people go to bed each night in jail knowing they were never guilty of their alleged crime. The 98 per cent confidence figure is cold comfort for them.”
FOR the past 30-odd years I’ve had the dubious advantage of occupying an office at the epicentre of the city.
AFTER Tom Percy revealed that lightning had killed his broodmare and her foal, he was swamped with messages of sympathy and support. We asked him to tell the story.
SO what is it that makes a successful punter? One so good that the bookies don’t want your business. There are probably a few fundamental rules you need to follow.
THERE is a dreadful moment at the start of a lot of jury trials these days; the moment when as a defence lawyer you get a sinking feeling the whole process is going astray before the case has even started.
AS a criminal lawyer you often wonder where a lot of your clients end up once the court process has finished with them.
THERE are a couple of things in this life that I’ve mercifully never had to do.
IT’S never easy being a politician, especially when you get to power after a long period in Opposition.
THE ATTORNEY-General this week likened protagonists in the drug trade to a snake whose head he proposes to cut off. They are more like cane toads. As soon as you squash one, 50 more are ready to take its place.
SENTENCING for motor vehicle deaths has changed markedly over the past two decades and the current regime of penalties is hardly inappropriate.
AS I trudged home from what was probably my last concert at Subiaco Oval, I couldn’t help but reflect on my first concert there, more than 40 years ago.
JUST when you were hoping that one of the major parties might come up with some new policy, it was back to the tired old law-and-order bidding war, in a cheap quest for votes.
IF you were to ask any lawyer practising in the area of criminal law what cases are the hardest to win, you’d probably be surprised at the answer.
THERE are the two dinner party questions that make a criminal lawyer cringe. You would like a dollar for every time you get asked.
ANYONE who is arrested and imprisoned for not paying fines in WA has previously declined or ignored non-custodial options. They are, in reality, choosing jail as a method of clearing the slate.
IT'S said the measure of civilised society is how well it treats its most wretched. If we refuse prisoners some compassion one day a year, we clearly fail that test.
ONE of my earliest memories of The Sunday Times was the turns-and-finishes photos of the previous day’s Perth races.