This article was first published at The Conversation on 4th October 2013 The Victorian Department of Justice has released its long-awaited review into the operation of the controversial offence of defensive homicide. The Consultation Paper proposes the offence’s abolition on the basis that it is "inherently complex", "has no clear benefit" for women who kill […]
Author Archives: Kate Fitz-Gibbon
About Kate Fitz-Gibbon
http://www.deakin.edu.au/profiles/Kate-Fitz-Gibbon
This month the Home Secretary Theresa May MP announced a major review in England and Wales of how police respond to domestic violence. The much-needed review comes in the wake of several high profile cases of women killed by former male partners with a recorded history of violence against women. These cases, including the deaths […]
Last month the Victorian Premier Denis Napthine, Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Ken Lay, Lord Mayor Robert Doyle and AFL chief Andrew Demetriou came together to encourage the Victorian community to ‘take a stand’ against family violence. Part of a family violence campaign, the ‘Take a Stand’ initiative focuses on reducing family violence through increased awareness […]
Provocation is a partial defence to murder, which has attracted controversy and critique in every Australian criminal justice system except South Australia … until now. Courtesy of concerns surrounding the ‘gay panic’ defence, South Australia has joined the provocation debate and has already begun to take steps to minimising the application of this controversial law. […]
This article was first published at The Conversation on the 21st June 2013 This week, the World Health Organisation (WHO) released a report examining global estimates of violence against women. The report examines two forms of violence – intimate partner violence and non-partner sexual violence. The report reveals the terrifying extent of violence against women […]
This article was first published at The Conversation on the 29th May 2013 Research published last week revealed that from November 2005 to September 2012, 18 of the 22 cases of defensive homicide in Victoria resulted from homicides perpetrated by a male offender upon a male victim. Just one case during this period involved […]
This article was first published at The Conversation on the 24th April 2013. Yesterday, the NSW parliamentary Select Committee on the Partial Defence of Provocation released its final report. The report contains a set of recommendations for reforming a defence that has long attracted criticism. The committee’s final report shies away from closing the door on provocation completely. It […]
This opinion piece first appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald on 20 February 2013. On Wednesday, the Select Committee of the NSW Parliamentary Inquiry into the partial defence of provocation will release its final report recommending reform to a law that has long animated debate and attracted criticism. Provocation operates as a partial defence to […]