Choosing The Services Of Criminal Lawyers In Melbourne

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Table Of Contents
Page 3 - Top Five Things To Know About Community Corrections Order Page 5 - Three Criminal Defences Used By Lawyers Page 7 - Defence Of Intoxication Understanding Its Important Conditions And Complex Terminologies Page 9 - Conditional Penalties For Criminal Offences Page 11- How To Find The Best Lawyer To Defend You Against Unlawful Assault Charges
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Top Five Things To Know About Community Corrections Order

Every legal case is different, from civil suits to criminal charges. The law responds accordingly to each legal situation. This is precisely why you will come across cases where magistrates might penalise an offender with a fine, imprisonment, or come up with an order that may keep an offender out of jail. In Australia, magistrates or judges have the option to penalise offenders with community corrections orders, instead of imprisonment. This flexible sentence may be considered more serious than a fine and definitely preferable to being sentenced to gaol. But while the community corrections order will keep offenders from imprisonment, those who breach the conditions attached to it will be resentenced to the original offence and even get an additional three months in gaol, plus potentially a fine of 30 penalty units. To gain a better understanding of how this specific penalty works, here are five things you might want to learn about community corrections orders or CCOs. 1. CCOs may be made in the Magistrates Court, County or Supreme courts. The judge or magistrate may use the CCO if the offence can be punished by five penalty units; if the fine is deemed inappropriate; and if the offender has agreed. 2. The Magistrate Courts may impose the CCO for a maximum of two years, which could translate to 600 hours of unpaid community work. But www.CRIMINAL-LAWYERS.com.au

in the higher courts, the Sentencing Council Advisory of Victoria states that the CCO can be imposed for up to the statutory maximum term of imprisonment. If a certain offence carried with it a maximum imprisonment term of 10 years, the CCO could be up to 10 years. 3. The basic and required conditions attached to CCOs are abiding by the order of the Secretary of the Department of Justice, not leaving Victoria without permission, and not reoffending. However, other conditions may also come with the CCO, and these may include, among others: abiding by curfews, living or not living at specified addresses, supervision by corrections worker, undertaking medical or rehabilitative treatments, and staying away from nominated places or establishments. 4. The suitability of a CCO may be determined after the magistrate or judge receives a pre-sentencing report from Corrections Victoria. The report will detail information about the offenders age; educational and employment history; social, medical, and psychiatric history; services that may help the offender to reduce the risk of committing other offences; capacity to do any unpaid work; financial circumstances; and other relevant information. But the pre-sentencing report is only used for orders that are less than 300 hours of community service. 5. If an offender is unable to comply with any of the conditions in the CCO, the supervising corrections worker must be informed immediately. Otherwise, the offender will be in breach of his or her CCO. To learn more about this, check out this site.

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Three Criminal Defences Used By Lawyers

When criminal lawyers prepare for a case, they need to know what the charges are, the elements relevant to the charges, the evidence that the prosecution has to prove their case, and the admissibility of the evidence. The information gathered from these things will help a criminal lawyer determine legal options to fight the charges for a client and to recognise the credibility of a specific criminal defence. Depending on the charge and the circumstances surrounding the case, a criminal lawyer will come up with a defence that should be supported by evidence both testimonial (e.g., witness or victim statements) and physical (e.g., fingerprints, biological material, shoe prints, etc.). Other than self-defence and mental impairment, here are three possible criminal defences lawyers might use to win a case. 1. Sudden or Extraordinary Emergency Some criminal lawyers may argue that the offence committed was the result of a response to sudden or extraordinary emergency. The Crimes Act of 1958 decrees that sudden or extraordinary emergency applies only when the person who carried out the offence acted so, reasonably believing that the emergency exists; that committing the offence was the only way to deal with the emergency, and that the conduct was a reasonable response to the emergency.

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This particular defence puts the evidential burden on the defendant while the prosecution has the responsibility to prove that the defendant did not carry out the offence in response to a sudden or extraordinary emergency. 2. Necessity The defence of necessity is plausible if the person who committed the crime did it only to avoid a situation where they would be put in harms way or in order to protect another person from being harmed. This defence can be tricky and perhaps not used as much as other defences. That is because the criminal action has to be proven proportionate to the degree of harm, that the defence has to prove that the accused was acting out of necessity, and nothing but necessity. 3. Charges are Statute Barred Perhaps more of a strategy rather than an actual defence to a criminal offence, some lawyers find the charges are statute barred to be fairly favourable in some cases. This, however, only applies for charges that have gone beyond the period of prosecution. It means that a defendant cannot be prosecuted if a certain period of time as decreed by particularly laws has ended. Summary offences (e.g., offensive behaviour, road traffic offences, or minor assaults) and some sex offences carry with them time limits that allow the State to prosecute for only a certain period. More information mentioned here.

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Defence Of Intoxication Understanding Its Important Conditions And Complex Terminologies

Legal processes are often beyond the understanding of most people, and even for the seemingly simplest of cases, there are conditions that many may not agree with and actually find quite unfair, especially for the complainants. Take, for example, a violent act displayed because of intoxication; the judgment is rarely as simple as establishing the wrongdoing done and implementing a penalty based on the gravity of the act. A lot of people have this understanding that the law will always sway towards the complainants favour and that physical harm inflicted by someone, be that person intoxicated or not, automatically warrants gaol time and compensation for whatever emotional distress the accused subjected to the complainant. A defence of intoxication can easily change the legal course and the accused may appear to be a victim of circumstances as well. The law states that the grounds for defence are rooted in intent meaning an intoxicated person can only be charged if he/she manifested clear and established intent of physical harm on another person. Its not sufficient that theres evidence of physical damages on the complainant. Rather, the focus of the case is to prove that the accused truly wanted to inflict physical harm or the action was premeditated to bring about a specific result.

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Apart from these conditions, the court can also take into great consideration the degree of intoxication of the accused to prove how solid the intent was. In many cases, when the intoxication level of the accused was low, legal professionals claim that proving intent becomes easier because with low toxicity levels, most people still retain the ability to think logically and regulate their behaviour. Legal experts, however, reveal that all the evidence establishing intoxication of the accused will be considered irrelevant if the accused had either resolved before getting intoxicated to carry out his/her intentions, or got intoxicated in order to strengthen his/her resolve to carry out the relevant conduct. Yet again, it all centres on intent. Now, in the course of a defence of intoxication, one might frequently hear some terminologies like relevant conduct, drug, and self-induced intoxication these are thrown around repeatedly and presented in various contexts. To increase understanding on how these often used terminologies impact a defence of intoxication, their meanings are provided below: Relevant conduct means the act or omission necessary to constitute the wrongdoing. As for drug, when this is mentioned in the defence this always means a poison, restricted substance, or drug of addiction. And lastly, self-induced intoxication when this is mentioned,it basically means any type of intoxication except when it was involuntary or forced upon by another person in order to be able to do the relevant conduct. By understanding all these conditions, victims and even the accused can be directed on which appropriate action to take should they find themselves caught up in a legal case involving intoxication. For more info, click here.

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Conditional Penalties For Criminal Offences

Statistical reports show a decline in the percentages of criminal acts in very specific parts of Australia. With stricter implementation of the law and more vigilant citizen protection programmes in place, there are communities that are deemed properly safeguarded from most criminal activities. However, criminal offences still abound especially in commercialised locations where theres a chaotic mix of highly competitive culture, over-privileged lifestyles, poverty, aggregation and other variables that create an atmosphere where bad habits and behaviour easily thrive. But while many of the penalties for the common criminal offences these days instantly warrant a set gaol term, to extract established offenders from society and ensure safety of law-abiding citizens, there are penalties implemented that do not automatically include a gaol term for offenders.In Victoria, the Court takes into account a number of factors, including studies on whetherjustice will be better served without sending the offender straight to prison; in some situations, the offenders are given a period of time to prove that the usual course of the law is no longer necessary. To shed light on potential outcomes of tried criminal offences, penalties in Victoria that do notautomatically lead to a gaol term or conviction for established offenders are stated below: Deferral of Sentencing This is typically imposed by the Court when the established offender is already undergoing a process of rehabilitation which is expected to set him/her back on track, and manages to stay clean throughout the deferral period. A deferral can be done up to a www.CRIMINAL-LAWYERS.com.au

period of 12 months and sentencing by the end of the deferral period often leads to a lighter sentence. Diversion The goal of this penalty, according to Section 59 of the Criminal Procedure Act, is to ensurerestitution to the victim, to prevent further reoffending, to avoid getting any form of criminal records, and to provide for local community services via donations and voluntary activities. Detention in Youth Training Centre This is for juvenile or minor offenders who are given the chance by the Court to put their lives back in order as they are still young and can still change for the better. Good Behaviour Bond This is also known as an adjourned undertaking. This sentence is covered by Section 75 of the Sentencing Act. This penalty allows the Court to not enter an offender into conviction but only provided that the offender signs an undertaking declaring that he/she must not reoffend for a provided period. When this type of penalty is granted, offenders have to abide by all the conditions which include payment of a specific amount of money to the poor box or the collection box of a charitable group. Community Corrections Order This is also what Americans typically refer to as Community Service which takes the place of a harsher sentence. The offender has to abide with all the conditions set by the Court to avoid gaol time or more serious legal penalties. Suspended Prison Sentence The Court provides a sentence but allows the offender to serve a gaol term right away. Prison time will only be implemented if the offender re-offends during the specified suspension period. Complainants may not agree with such conditional penalties but it is imperative to remember that the law works for everybody as much as it protects the rights of the aggrieved, it also recognises the rights of the offenders. www.CRIMINAL-LAWYERS.com.au

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How To Find The Best Lawyer To Defend You Against Unlawful Assault Charges

Assault is a broad term that can refer to a variety of charges including causing injury intentionally, common assault, reckless conduct causing serious injury, threatening injury to prevent arrest, and threats to kill. Assault is one of the most common charges heard in courts. In simple terms, assault can be defined as striking, touching, moving or applying force against another person, whether indirectly or directly without the other person's consent, or if there is consent, that consent is obtained fraudulently. Assault can also involve causing physical discomfort to another person through the use of electrical force, light, heat and gases. In some states, even if a person gives consent, the other party may still be charged with assault. Verbal threats may also result in an assault charge if that threat creates a fear upon the other party that such a threat would be actually carried out. The maximum penalty for an assault charge is five years imprisonment. But even if the lowest sentence has been meted out, assault convictions can have a long-term impact upon one's future travel and employment. When facing unlawful assault charges, it is crucial to choose the best lawyers to defend your case. Here are a few tips to help you in your search should you be charged with assault. www.CRIMINAL-LAWYERS.com.au

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Should you have relatives or friends who have been previously charged with assault, you can ask them for recommendations. Ideally, this will give a clue about the lawyer's professionalism and disposition. However, if you cannot get recommendations, your next best recourse would be to search the website of the Law Institute of Victoria or LIV. Lawyers accredited by the LIV have passed written and practical examinations and they have substantial experience in criminal law. The advantage of this option is that you know that the lawyer you choose is a specialist in this field and can suggest the best course of action to take. The AustLII also maintains a database which you can check for criminal defence lawyers who have figured prominently in a number of similar cases as yours. A professional lawyer should be able to promptly return your calls should there be any important issue you want to bring up or clarify. Your lawyer should review your case with you and explain how the whole court process will transpire. Should you have any questions, the lawyer should be able to answer you in terms that are easy to understand. Apart from this, your chosen lawyer should talk to you about the options that are available to you, and from there, develop and execute a plan to help you achieve the best outcome for your case. Check out CRIMINALLAWYERS.com.au for additional info about this.

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