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Review of the test for recklessness as it applies to offences against the
person had some unusual features. Unlike some VLRC inquiries involving broad
and complex social issues, this inquiry concerned a specific and technical
question: whether the definition of recklessness as it relates to Victoria’s Crimes Act 1958 (Vic) should change.

Referral
to the Victorian Law Reform Commission pursuant to section 5(1)(a) of
the Victorian Law Reform Commission Act 2000.

The Victorian Law Reform Commission (VLRC)
is asked to review and report on how the concept of ‘recklessness’ is
understood in the Crimes Act. In particular, the VLRC should:

•     consider
whether the Crimes Act should be amended to include a definition of
recklessness applicable to the Victorian offences and, if so, what definition
should apply; and

•     develop
a set of guiding principles that could be used to review the use or proposed
use of recklessness as a fault element in other categories of Crimes Act
offences.[1]

 

 

 

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Glossary H2

Accused	A person charged with a criminal offence.
Acquittal	When an accused is found not guilty of a criminal offence.
Appeal	A review of a decision by a higher court. An offender can appeal against their conviction and/or their sentence. If a criminal appeal is successful, the higher court can overturn the conviction, or change the sentence.
Bail	Allowing an accused to be released from custody until the hearing of their case in court. Conditions can be attached to bail, for example, the accused might be required to reside at a certain address.
Beyond reasonable doubt	The standard of proof in criminal cases. It is the highest standard of proof. By comparison, the lower standard of proof in civil cases is the ‘balance of probabilities’ (‘more likely than not’).

 

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Figure 1: Victorian
court hierarchy

                    Source
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Executive summary H2

This is the
Executive Summary Style: report reviews the use of ‘recklessness’ in Victorian
criminal law. It considers if the current ‘recklessness’ test should change,
and whether to legislate a definition in the Crimes
Act 1958 (Vic). The focus is on offences against the person, although
‘recklessness’ is used in many contexts.

2            Our conclusion is that the
recklessness test should not change and does not need to be legislated.

3            We assessed the overall case for
reform, including:

•     how
the law operates

•     whether
there are problems in practice

•     alternative
definitions.

4            We were informed by case studies,
court decisions, data, and the experience of stakeholders, including legal
practitioners, Victoria Police, judges and magistrates,
and victims.

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Recommendations Front Section
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Recommendations-boxed_heading recommendation-boxed_numbered Juries Victoria and the courts should collect disaggregated data about people from the subject groups who are summonsed to be in the jury pool and those who go on to serve. Data should be collected at each stage of the jury selection process and in relation to relevant aspects of trials. It should cover at a minimum: recommendation-boxed_no-number diuwoi peruoquer apeurwpurwq recommendation-boxed_follow diuwoi peruoquer apeurwpurwq diuwoi peruoquer apeurwpurwq diuwoi peruoquer apeuri peruoquer apeurwpurwq recommendation-boxed_follow bullet whether potential jurors identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander adjustments sought recommendation-boxed_follow2 bullet Subject to the confidentiality requirements of section 78 of the Juries Act, Juries Victoria should obtain qualitative data by surveying jurors from the subject groups about their experiences. Juries Victoria should collate, analyse and report the data in the annual report of the Supreme Court. The Attorney-General should review the new provisions in the Juries Act five years from the date of commencement, to determine whether the policy objectives of the new provisions are being met and whether any amendments to the Act are needed. A report on the outcome of the review should be tabled in each House of Parliament within 12 months of the review.

 

 

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Recommendations-boxed_heading 4.       recommendation-boxed_numbered Juries Victoria and the courts should collect disaggregated data about people from the subject groups who are summonsed to be in the jury pool and those who go on to serve. Data should be collected at each stage of the jury selection process and in relation to relevant aspects of trials. It should cover at a minimum: recommendation-boxed_no-number diuwoi peruoquer apeurwpurwq a.       recommendation-boxed_follow diuwoi peruoquer apeurwpurwq b.       diuwoi peruoquer apeurwpurwq c.       diuwoi peruoquer apeuri peruoquer apeurwpurwq •        recommendation-boxed_follow bullet whether potential jurors identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander •        adjustments sought •        recommendation-boxed_follow2 bullet Subject to the confidentiality requirements of section 78 of the Juries Act, Juries Victoria should obtain qualitative data by surveying jurors from the subject groups about their experiences. 5.       Juries Victoria should collate, analyse and report the data in the annual report of the Supreme Court. 6.       The Attorney-General should review the new provisions in the Juries Act five years from the date of commencement, to determine whether the policy objectives of the new provisions are being met and whether any amendments to the Act are needed. A report on the outcome of the review should be tabled in each House of Parliament within 12 months of the review.

 

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Appendix A: Submissions

Melbourne University law
students (Clifton, Liu, Neulinger, Wong)

Melbourne University law
students (Peck, Borchard, Carlei, Ciampoli)

Melbourne University law
students (Kavaleris, Shehnah, Aforozis, Vinci)

Melbourne University law
students (Waller, Herszberg, Muldoon)

Melbourne University law
students (McGavin, Jenkins-Smales, McNaughton, Allen)

Criminal Bar Association

Victoria Police

 

Bibliography

Bib American Law Institute, Model Penal Code and Commentaries :
(Official Draft and Revised Comments) : With Text of Model Penal
Code as Adopted at the 1962 Annual Meeting of the American Law Institute at
Washington, D.C., May 24, 1962. (The Institute, 1985)

Attorney-General’s Department, (Cth),

Bib indent 5.4 Recklessness’, Commonwealth Criminal Code: Guide for Practitioners
(Online Guide) <https://www.ag.gov.au/crime/publications/commonwealth-criminal-code-guide-practitioners-draft/part-22-elements-offence/division-5-fault-elements/54-recklessness>

Causes of
Complex Legislation and Strategies to Address These (Fact Sheet, 2020)
<https://www.ag.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-03/causes-of-complex-legislation-and-strategies-to-address-these.pdf>

Australia. Model Criminal Law Officers’
Committee of the Standing Committee of Attorneys-General, Identity Crime (The Committee, March 2008)

Case law H3

Victoria H4

Al Wahame v The
Queen [2018] VSCA 4

Anderton (VWA) v
Jackson (Latrobe Valley Magistrates’ Court, 19 December 2018)

Ashdown v The
Queen [2011] VSCA 408; (2011) 37 VR 341

Appendix/Back Section Copy
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bullet and numbering to text for export)

Appendix A: Submissions

8           Melbourne University law students (Clifton, Liu,
Neulinger, Wong)

9           Melbourne University law students (Peck, Borchard, Carlei,
Ciampoli)

10          Melbourne University law students (Kavaleris, Shehnah,
Aforozis, Vinci)

11           Melbourne University law students (Waller, Herszberg,
Muldoon)

12          Melbourne University law students (McGavin, Jenkins-Smales,
McNaughton, Allen)

13          Criminal Bar Association

14          Victoria Police

 

Bibliography

Bib American Law Institute, Model Penal Code and Commentaries :
(Official Draft and Revised Comments) : With Text of Model Penal
Code as Adopted at the 1962 Annual Meeting of the American Law Institute at
Washington, D.C., May 24, 1962. (The Institute, 1985)

Attorney-General’s Department, (Cth),

–    Bib
indent 5.4 Recklessness’, Commonwealth Criminal
Code: Guide for Practitioners (Online Guide)
<https://www.ag.gov.au/crime/publications/commonwealth-criminal-code-guide-practitioners-draft/part-22-elements-offence/division-5-fault-elements/54-recklessness>

–    Causes
of Complex Legislation and Strategies to Address These (Fact Sheet,
2020)
<https://www.ag.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-03/causes-of-complex-legislation-and-strategies-to-address-these.pdf>

Australia. Model Criminal Law Officers’
Committee of the Standing Committee of Attorneys-General, Identity Crime (The Committee, March 2008)

Case law H3

Victoria H4

Al Wahame v The
Queen [2018] VSCA 4

Anderton (VWA) v
Jackson (Latrobe Valley Magistrates’ Court, 19 December 2018)

Ashdown v The
Queen [2011] VSCA 408; (2011) 37 VR 341

Table styles
and some footnotes.

figure-chart-graph-head
Table 1: A comparison of fault elements

figure-chart-graph-head
(no indent) Table 1: A comparison of fault elements

Fault element	Body Style with Bold	Examples
Intention	Deciding to do a prohibited act (general intent) or deciding to bring about a harmful result (specific intent).	Intentionally causing serious injury The offender doused the victim with petrol and then used a cigarette lighter to set fire to the fuel.[1]
Recklessness	Being aware that harm will probably (is likely to) result from the conduct but going ahead anyway.	Recklessly causing serious injury The offender punched the victim to the head, causing him to fall backwards and strike his head on the footpath.[2]

 

 

Table 2: Elements of
the gross violence offences

Elements of the gross violence offences	Other possible charges
10pt – Table Indent • (7/-7) The accused caused serious injury to another person. The accused acted intentionally (s 15A) or recklessly (s 15B).	the injury offences[3] the endangerment offences violent disorder[4] affray[5]

 

Circumstance of gross violence

Purpose

10pt – Table Indent a) (7/-7) The accused planned in advance to engage in conduct and at the time of planning had a particular state of mind, either: 10pt – Table Indent i) (14/-7) intended that the conduct would cause serious injury; or the accused was reckless as to whether the conduct would cause serious injury.

Body ‘This circumstance is intended to capture situations where an offender has planned to beat or threaten someone with violence, and at the time [they] formulated that plan, [they] intended or [were] e person would have foreseen the conduct would be likely to result in a serious injury.’[6] ‘The idea of plane who is pushed in a nightclub, goes home and decides to retaliate … then returns to the nightclub and causes serious injury.’[7]

 

Table styles
and some footnotes. (converted bullet and numbering to text for export)

figure-chart-graph-head
Table 1: A comparison of fault elements

figure-chart-graph-head
(no indent) Table 1: A comparison of fault elements

Fault element	Body Style with Bold	Examples
Intention	Deciding to do a prohibited act (general intent) or deciding to bring about a harmful result (specific intent).	Intentionally causing serious injury The offender doused the victim with petrol and then used a cigarette lighter to set fire to the fuel.[8]
Recklessness	Being aware that harm will probably (is likely to) result from the conduct but going ahead anyway.	Recklessly causing serious injury The offender punched the victim to the head, causing him to fall backwards and strike his head on the footpath.[9]

 

 

Table 2: Elements of
the gross violence offences

Elements of the gross violence offences	Other possible charges
•     10pt – Table Indent • (7/-7) The accused caused serious injury to another person. •     The accused acted intentionally (s 15A) or recklessly (s 15B).	•     the injury offences[10] •     the endangerment offences •     violent disorder[11] •     affray[12]

 

Circumstance of gross violence

Purpose

b)    10pt – Table Indent a) (7/-7) The accused planned in advance to engage in conduct and at the time of planning had a particular state of mind, either: iv)   10pt – Table Indent i) (14/-7) intended that the conduct would cause serious injury; or v)    the accused was reckless as to whether the conduct would cause serious injury.

Body ‘This circumstance is intended to capture situations where an offender has planned to beat or threaten someone with violence, and at the time [they] formulated that plan, [they] intended or [were] e person would have foreseen the conduct would be likely to result in a serious injury.’[13] vi)   ‘The idea of plane who is pushed in a nightclub, goes home and decides to retaliate … then returns to the nightclub and causes serious injury.’[14]

 

Some text in context with pull out box and footnotes.

The DPP
Reference stemmed from a trial in the County Court of Victoria (see box
over page).[15]

Body but wrapped for highlighting. An argument broke out in the streets of Melbourne between two men, A and B. B was said to have been intoxicated and aggressive. The argument escalated into a physical altercation with pushing, shoving, and punches.

 

The DPP also sought to include
an objective assessment of the risk in the recklessness test, that a person
recklessly causes injury if they:

foresee the possibility of
causing injury; and

the risk of causing injury
was, on an objective assessment of the circumstances including the social
utility of the act, an unreasonable risk for them to take.[16]

The High Court discussed two
key legislative changes in Victoria:

amendments in 1997 to the maximum
penalties for a range of offences including offences against the person[17]

amendments in 2013 which introduced
new offences where serious injury was caused in circumstances of ‘gross
violence’, and new definitions of ‘injury’ and ‘serious injury’.[18]

ustices Gageler, Gordon and
Steward observed that:

even if, when s 17 was enacted, the
mental element of recklessness, consistent with Crabbe,
should have been interpreted as the possibility
and not probability of relevant consequences,
the 1997 and 2013 amendments were based on the nature and extent of the
criminality and culpability of a contravention of s 17 as stated in Campbell (which followed Nuri), not Crabbe.
Those amendments, and the basis for those amendments, cannot be put to one
side.[19]

‘Serious injury’ means:

             ‘an injury (including the cumulative effect of more than
one injury) that:

endangers life; or

is substantial and
protracted; or

             the destruction, other than in the course of a medical
procedure, of the foetus of a pregnant woman, whether or not the woman suffers
any other harm.’[20]

 

Some text in context with pull out box and
footnotes  (converted bullet and
numbering to text for export)

3.6         The DPP Reference stemmed
from a trial in the County Court of Victoria (see box over page).[21]

Body but wrapped for highlighting. An argument broke out in the streets of Melbourne between two men, A and B. B was said to have been intoxicated and aggressive. The argument escalated into a physical altercation with pushing, shoving, and punches.

 

3.7         The DPP also sought to include an objective assessment of
the risk in the recklessness test, that a person recklessly causes injury if
they:

1)    foresee the possibility of causing injury; and

2)    the risk of causing injury was, on an objective assessment of the
circumstances including the social utility of the act, an unreasonable risk for
them to take.[22]

3.8         The High Court discussed two key legislative changes in
Victoria:

•     amendments
in 1997 to the maximum penalties for a range of offences including offences
against the person[23]

•     amendments
in 2013 which introduced new offences where serious injury was caused in
circumstances of ‘gross violence’, and new definitions of ‘injury’ and ‘serious
injury’.[24]

3.9         ustices Gageler, Gordon and Steward observed that:

even if, when s 17 was enacted, the
mental element of recklessness, consistent with Crabbe,
should have been interpreted as the possibility
and not probability of relevant consequences,
the 1997 and 2013 amendments were based on the nature and extent of the
criminality and culpability of a contravention of s 17 as stated in Campbell (which followed Nuri), not Crabbe.
Those amendments, and the basis for those amendments, cannot be put to one
side.[25]

3.10        ‘Serious injury’ means:

             ‘an injury (including the cumulative effect of more than
one injury) that:

a)    endangers life; or

b)    is substantial and protracted; or

             the destruction, other than in the course of a medical
procedure, of the foetus of a pregnant woman, whether or not the woman suffers
any other harm.’[26]