Drugs

Criminalised under the Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act 1985 (NSW)

Divided into:

• possession or use (summary offences) and
• supply (indictable offences) including cultivating or possessing a plant and to sell and distribute

Deemed supply: possession of trafficable quantity
Import and export covered by Criminal Code (Cth)

Public Order Offences

• Permit police to act in response to offensive or abusive language or conduct in public places, move along/ street sweeping powers
• Offensive language assessed objectively and in terms of context, usually swear words not sufficient
• Presence in public places is a status offence – like loitering, possession of a weapon
• Unlawful assembly – to intimate someone or encourage them to do something unlawful. However there are political rights to assembly
• Riot and affray – use of violence or threatening of safety

Prostitution

Soliciting

• Invitation for sexual activity for money
• Only illegal around schools, churches, hospitals and houses

Living on earnings of prostitution

• Pimping is illegal, owning a brothel is not (licenced and run as a business, WHS, workers’ comp, taxed)
• Other premises cannot be used for prostitution e.g. massage parlour

Homicide

Murder

• Actus reus – act (or omission) resulting in death
• Causation – the act must be a substantial cause of death.
• Medical issues – only reckless not negligence can break the chain of causation
• Medical staff must respect wishes of patient to undergo or not undergo treatment, however can do what is in their best interests if they are not capable of making the decision
• Mens rea – Intent to kill, intent to cause grievous bodily harm, reckless indifference to human life or constructive murder (in the course of criminal activity)

Manslaughter

• Mens rea for murder is not met (involuntary manslaughter) or there were mitigating circumstances (voluntary manslaughter), instead mens rea is whether a reasonable person would have known there was a serious risk or whether there was criminal negligence

Corporate Homicide

• Companies may be charged criminally instead of civilly (e.g. product liability) but often management or directors who ‘directed the mind and will of the company’ are held responsible

Euthanasia

• Person assisting is aiding and abetting suicide, unless the person had capacity to make the choice

Assault

• Common assault – reasonable apprehension of imminent harm or actual force
• Battery – actual force
• Aggravated assault – occasioning actual or grievous bodily harm or wounding

Sexual Assault

• Actus reus of sexual intercourse and mens rea of knowledge (actual or recklessness) of no consent (free and voluntary), aggravated if certain circumstances present e.g. bodily harm
• Indecent assault – assault plus indecent act

Larceny (theft)

Actus reus: Something belonging to someone else is taken without consent

Mens rea: intention to permanent deprive and fraudulent

• Embezzlement – misappropriation of funds belonging to one’s employer

Breaking and entering

• With intent to commit another offence

Fraud

• Use of deception to obtain property or obtain financial advantage

Complicity

• Joint criminal enterprise – more than one person agreed to commit the crime, and one carried it out
• Extended joint criminal enterprise – more than one person agreed to commit the crime, and one person commited it as well as another crime that was a possible result
• Accessorial liability – a person assisted before or during the crime

Unless one party has manipulated another into committing the crime.

Conspiracy

• Unlike JCE, this is an offence in itself, where two or more people share an intent to commit a crime

Associating and consorting

• Association and consorting with and membership of bikie gangs, terrorist associations