Proposed Reform of Major Indictable Matters Processes in SA Criminal Justice System

Wednesday 28 September 2016 @ 11.19 a.m. | Crime | Judiciary, Legal Profession & Procedure

The South Australian State Government has released for public comment draft legislation which seeks to make important changes to the way "major indictable matters" are dealt with in the SA criminal justice system. The changes, as the ABC News reports SA Attorney-General John Rau saying, have been put together by the SA State Government to ". . . overhaul ... how major criminal court cases in South Australia are prepared [and] would reduce a backlog of cases, . . ." by, reducing unnecessary hearings, setting realistic time frames and making prosecution and defence sides reveal more about their argument in advance so they can identify and focus on the real issues in dispute.

Part of Broader Changes to SA Criminal Justice

The proposed changes are part of the SA State Government’s ongoing criminal justice system reform process, referred to as the "Transforming Criminal Justice initiative" [details of the whole process can be found here].

Broad Nature of the Proposed Changes

The changes have been published as draft amendments to the following SA Acts:

Summary Procedure Act 1921;
Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935; and
Criminal Law (Sentencing) Act 1988.

The primary intent of the proposed changes is expressed as enabling the courts, police, forensic services and prosecutors to focus their resources where they are most needed, so as to ease the pressure on the courts system.

The changes are aimed at major indictable offences - which are defined as offences that guarantee the defendant the right to a trial by jury and are generally the more serious crimes attracting greater penalties than petty or minor offences.

The two relevant draft Bills are the Summary Procedure (Indictable Offences) Amendment Bill 2016 (the Procedure Bill) which addresses the procedural aspects of the proposed reforms and the Criminal Law (Sentencing) (Sentencing Reductions) Amendment Bill 2016 (the Sentencing Reductions Bill) which makes the changes to sentencing discounts that complement this major indictable reform. It should be noted that broader changes to the Criminal Law Sentencing Act 1988 are also proposed - see the draft Sentencing Bill 2016 which has already been released for public consultation.

More Specific Aspects of the Changes

More specifically the proposed changes include:

The requirement that major indictable matters be the subject of a ‘charge determination’ by the Director of Public Prosecutions (the DPP) prior to the commencement of committal proceedings;
Giving courts the discretion to set out realistic adjournment time frames that reflect the needs of individual cases, and reduce unnecessary court appearances for a major indictable matter when it is in the Magistrates Court;
Offering a sliding scale for early guilty pleas or cooperation with the prosecution that would allow for a discount on sentencing of between 10 and 40 percent, depending on the timing;
The introduction of a tiered disclosure scheme, that will allow for earlier disclosure of primary evidence to the defence – helping to encourage earlier guilty pleas and supporting negotiations with prosecution;
Requiring case statements to be filed by prosecution and defence prior to a matter being arraigned in the District or Supreme Courts to identify the matters that are genuinely in dispute, enabling court, police, forensic and prosecution resources to be focused on those matters; and
Encouraging early guilty pleas where appropriate.

Reactions and Comments

The ABC News reports the SA Attorney General as saying the reforms were not optional but necessary to resolve case backlog:

"At the present time we have too many cases that are taking too long to be heard, . . . And we're having too many cases where parties seek an adjournment or there's a late plea which means the courts don't have the time to backfill those days and we have wasted court time."

The result, according to the Attorney General, was that, in 2015, a third of all planned criminal trials across the Supreme and District Courts in Adelaide were called off due to late guilty pleas. It was this type of result the changes would address, creating efficiencies within the justice system and easing the burden for victims.

The ABC News also reports Law Society president David Caruso as saying, he was optimistic the changes would work to ease the backlog - saying also, that matters were managed by both the DPP and the police, ". . . which could lead to confusion and delays" because the DPP would ". . . need support to manage the higher workload created" requiring a better budget outlay for them to do the work.

The public consultation period on the draft Bills closes on 18 October 2016 at 5:00 PM and a variety of information including fact sheets and overview documents can be found here.

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