This report sets out to improve the Ombudsman’s handling of complaints about courts and tribunals; give courts and tribunals a clearer understanding of the Ombudsman’s role; improve public understanding of the role of the Ombudsman in relation to courts and tribunals; and improve understanding of the complaint mechanisms available in the courts and tribunals themselves...

A juvenile pre-court diversion scheme was introduced in the Northern Territory in 2000. Administered by police, it uses warnings and conferences to divert selected juveniles from the court process. This paper reports on an analysis of Northern Territory police records on 3,597 apprehended juveniles over a 5 year period. Findings showed that the great majority...

The ability of dissents to pave the way for change in the law is regularly cited as one of their virtues. But this examination of a period of the court’s recent history shows that the direct reversal of a precedent in favour of the minority opinion which accompanied it is actually very rare.

This publication presents nationally comparable statistics relating to the criminal jurisdiction of the Higher (Supreme and Intermediate) and Magistrates' Courts across Australia for the period 1 July 2005-30 June 2006. Children's Criminal Courts data are also provided on an experimental basis. The statistics describe the characteristics of defendants, including information on the offences and sentences...

Research Paper No 2 brings together statistical and other material about drug use, the rationales behind and the characteristics of drug courts in other jurisdictions and information about the level and type of drug services available in Tasmania. A drug court is a court, or a division of a court, which is responsible for sentencing...