Teske, S & Pregger, T 2019, 'Introduction' in Achieving the Paris Climate Agreement Goals, Springer International Publishing, UK, pp. 1-4.
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Booth, T 2019, 'Family Violence and Judicial Empathy', Oñati Socio-Legal Series, vol. 9, no. 5, pp. 702-725.
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Enquiries and research reveal that many victims of family violence who are personally cross-examined by the alleged perpetrator of that violence in family law proceedings find the process traumatising and intimidating. Not only can such processes generate unsafe and unfair outcomes but also they are unlikely to produce the high quality evidence required by the court. In deference to the emotional wellbeing and vulnerability of these victims, a number of measures for receiving such evidence are available to Australian Family Court judges. However, currently these are all discretionary powers and anecdotal evidence suggests that the use of these tools is unpredictable and dependent on the individual judge. In the absence of empirical evidence, this paper aims to open up potential emotional dimensions of judicial decision-making in this context with a view to exploring these theoretical ideas in later empirical work.
Booth, T, Kaye, M & Wangmann, J 2019, 'Family Violence, Cross-Examination and Self-Represented Parties in the Courtroom: The Differences, Gaps and Deficiencies', University of New South Wales Law Journal, vol. 42, no. 3, pp. 1106-1142.
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Since the early 2000s, the ability of a self-represented litigant alleged to have used domestic and family violence including sexual violence to personally cross-examine the alleged victim of that violence has been steadily restricted or prohibited across the Australian jurisdictions. These statutory limitations recognise the traumatic and negative impact such personal cross-examination can have on the alleged victim. All Australian jurisdictions restrict such personal cross-examination in sexual offence proceedings. Many jurisdictions also impose similar limitations in proceedings for other domestic and family violence related criminal proceedings and civil protection order proceedings. This article reveals a marked unevenness in protection for alleged victims both across and within jurisdictions. The lack of consistency in approach and lack of uniformity in provisions across the jurisdictions means that not all victims of domestic and family violence are protected, and for those who are, the nature and extent of those protections differ.
Millbank, J 2019, 'Health Practitioner Regulation: Has the National Law Produced National Outcomes in Serious Disciplinary Matters?', Federal Law Review, vol. 47, no. 4, pp. 631-654.
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Since 2010, a national scheme regulates the registration, accreditation and discipline of health professionals in Australia (the ‘National Law’). This research examines disciplinary cases from tribunals nationwide to address the question: Has the national regulation of health professionals produced consistency in outcomes in serious cases of professional misconduct? All publicly available Australian tribunal-level decisions concerning complaints of serious misconduct and/or impairment brought against the five most populous regulated health professions (nurses and midwives, doctors, psychologists, pharmacists and dentists) were analysed for the period from 1 July 2010 to 30 June 2017. Each case was coded by reference to a typology of misconduct, practitioner characteristics and outcome, allowing for comparisons to be drawn both as between the professions and as between jurisdictions. Major disparities were identified in outcomes across the professions, with doctors being subject to less severe outcomes than other professions, in particular in comparison with nurses, even when the same main head of misconduct was in issue. Marked disparities were also identified between outcomes in different states and territories, suggesting that the National Law is not being applied in a uniform manner. This article examines these disparities and explores possible contributing factors.
Stewart, P & Stuhmcke, A 2019, 'Litigants and Legal Representatives: A Study of Special Leave Applications in the High Court of Australia', Sydney Law Review, vol. 41, no. 1, pp. 35-71.
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This article presents the findings of the first systematic and comprehensive study to probe a substantial tranche of applications for special leave to appeal to the High Court of Australia. Special leave to appeal is discretionary and a case must satisfy the public interest test in s 35A of the Judiciary Act 1903 (Cth) to be granted leave to appeal. This article presents findings as to the characteristics of the litigants and legal representatives involved in special leave applications. The data reveals high numbers of self-represented applicants and low numbers of legally aided applicants, as well as disproportionate success rates for those litigants who enjoy an advantage because of greater resources and litigation experience. The study also highlights a striking lack of diversity in both applicants and lawyers appearing in special leave applications. These are all matters that are outside the control of the High Court and that have an effect on the nature and flow of the Court’s appellate work. The study demonstrates that a High Court appeal is, in many cases, restricted to well-resourced litigants and that there are significant access to justice issues for self-represented litigants due to the limited availability of legal aid.
Booth, T 1970, 'Emotion in sentencing: Remorse and Victim Impact Statements', Judges: Angry? Biased? Burned out?, Canberra.
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When sentencing an offender, judges are frequently required to assess the victim's experience as presented through a victim impact statement as well as any evidence of remorse on the part of the offender. They may also have to attend to and manage expressions of emotion from those in the courtroom, as well as regulating theor own feelings and demeanour.
Booth, T, Wangmann, J & Kaye, M 1970, ''Stop that crying right now': exploring the experiences of self-represented victims of domestic violence in Australian family law courtrooms.', 3rd European Conference on Domestic Violence, Oslo, Norway.
Kaye, M, Booth, T & Wangmann, J 1970, 'Consent and Consent orders', Positioning the Politics of Consent in Law and History, University of Technology Sydney.
Booth, T 2019, 'Victim participation rights: victims across criminal justice systems', Informa UK Limited, pp. 525-527.
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