I went to court today. It was my first time. I have to admit, did you know you can just wander into the district court and watch the proceedings, anytime you like? And in addition, did you know that you can see the judge’s sentencing remarks? I went to court to hear Daniel Logan’s sentence. You will be able to see his sentence up there (under L) for a month or two, and then they will take it down again. The judge’s remarks are kinda long compared to other sentencing remarks (and go take a look at some of the other remarks took, they are pretty interesting!), but thats because of the slightly unusual nature of the case. In a nutshell, the offender is before the court for causing death by dangerous driving on a motorbike, but he is young, and noone saw the point of him going to gaol. Actually, the only benefit of him going to gaol was that the State could say that it is ‘tough on crime’. Instead, he received a suspended sentence, home detention, 200hrs of community service and he was disqualified from driving for 6 years.

My placement boss is the person who facilitated the conference between the victim’s wife and the offender. This is the second (Australian) instance of pre-sentencing conferencing in the adult legal system. Im currently watching the development of a third instance. Its very, very interesting. I love my placement!

UPDATE: The Attorney General has launched a full inquiry into why this young man did not go to prison. But this is a good thing - any publicity is good publicity.

• the goddess (Tokyo) said on 07/05/23 at 01:41 AM.....

  That ws really interesting honey - I read the whole thing. Will he have to wear an ankle thing to make sure he doesn’t leave home during the hours that he is supposed to be at home?  How do they know that if he is at home? 

  Sad story about the co-joined twins - how rare is that?

• arumanda said on 07/05/25 at 02:10 PM.....

  fascinating. it’s great you’re so happy and challenged and interested in your work.  ganbare and enjoy.