Julia Quilter

Homelessness and Contact with the Criminal Justice System: Insights from Specialist Lawyers and Allied Professionals in Australia

Publisher: Queensland University of Technology

Date: 12-11-2020

DOI: 10.5204/IJCJSD.1742

Abstract: Lawyers and allied professionals who have experience supporting, advising and representing people experiencing homelessness are uniquely placed to identify problems with the operation of the criminal justice system—from policing to courts to punishment—and to conceive reform options. This article reports the findings of qualitative interviews with lawyers and allied professionals in all Australian states and territories. Participants identified multiple points where decisions about criminal law enforcement fail to take adequate account of the complex factors that underlie ‘offending’ by people experiencing homelessness, producing outcomes that exacerbate disadvantage. They advanced a range of proposals for reform directed at breaking the nexus between homelessness and criminalisation, including re-conception of the role of police, adoption of therapeutic jurisprudence (or ‘solution-focused’) models in criminal courts, and major changes to the use of fines as a criminal punishment.

The Definition And Significance Of ‘Intoxication’ In Australian Criminal Law: A Case Study Of Queensland’s ‘Safe Night Out’ Legislation

Publisher: Queensland University of Technology

Date: 17-06-2016

DOI: 10.5204/QUTLR.V16I2.654

Abstract: em Australian criminal law is being actively reconfigured in an effort to produce a more effective response to the problem of alcohol-related violence. This article uses the /em Safe Night Out Legislation Amendment Act 2014 em (Qld) as a case study for two purposes: i) to introduce a set of conceptual tools and typologies that can be used to investigate the relationship between ‘intoxication’ and criminal law and ii) to raise a number of concerns about how the effects of alcohol and other drugs are implicated in laws governing police powers, criminal responsibility and punishment. We draw attention to the different and sometimes inconsistent ways in which significance is attached to evidence of the consumption of alcohol and other drugs, as well as to variations and ambiguities in how legislation attempts to capture the degree of impairment or effects that are regarded as warranting the attachment of criminal law significance. /em

Entropy production in a box: Analysis of instabilities in confined hydrothermal systems

Publisher: American Geophysical Union (AGU)

Date: 09-2017

DOI: 10.1002/2017WR020427

Medicinal cannabis and driving: the intersection of health and road safety policy

Publisher: Elsevier BV

Date: 11-2021

DOI: 10.1016/J.DRUGPO.2021.103307

Abstract: Recent shifting attitudes towards the medical use of cannabis has seen legal access pathways established in many jurisdictions in North America, Europe and Australasia. However, the positioning of cannabis as a legitimate medical product produces some tensions with other regulatory frameworks. A notable ex le of this is the so-called 'zero tolerance' drug driving legal frameworks, which criminalise the presence of THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) in a driver's bodily fluids irrespective of impairment. Here we undertake an analysis of this policy issue based on a case study of the introduction of medicinal cannabis in Australia. We examine the regulatory approaches used for managing road safety risks associated with potentially impairing prescription medicines and illicit drugs in Australian jurisdictions, as well as providing an overview of evidence relating to cannabis and road safety risk, unintended impacts of the 'zero-tolerance' approach on patients, and the regulation of medicinal cannabis and driving in comparable jurisdictions. Road safety risks associated with medicinal cannabis appear similar or lower than numerous other potentially impairing prescription medications. The application of presence-based offences to medicinal cannabis patients appears to derive from the historical status of cannabis as a prohibited drug with no legitimate medical application. This approach is resulting in patient harms including criminal sanctions when not impaired and using the drug as directed by their doctor, or the forfeiting of car use and related mobility. Others who need to drive are excluded from accessing a needed medication and associated therapeutic benefit. 'Medical exemptions' for medicinal cannabis in comparable jurisdictions and other drugs included in presence offences in Australia (e.g. methadone) demonstrate a feasible alternative approach. We conclude that in medical-only access models there is little evidence to justify the differential treatment of medicinal cannabis patients, compared with those taking other prescription medications with potentially impairing effects.

TU Delft, ETH Zürich, RWTH Aachen

Location: Netherlands

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ETH Zürich

Location: Switzerland

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University Of Potsdam

Location: Germany

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Discovery Projects - Grant ID: DP200100101

Start Date: 05-2020

End Date: 05-2024

Amount: $239,322.00

Funder: Australian Research Council

Discovery Projects - Grant ID: DP210101072

Start Date: 11-2021

End Date: 11-2024

Amount: $327,330.00

Funder: Australian Research Council

Linkage Projects - Grant ID: LP160101543

Start Date: 09-2017

End Date: 12-2021

Amount: $156,000.00

Funder: Australian Research Council