Can someone explain statutory and judicial guidelines? I looked it up and found heaps of confusing discussion over new reforms?
cheers x
Hey! Is this in regard to sentencing?
If so, the answer is fairly straightforward. Statutory guidelines are
sentencing guidelines contained within legislation such as the Crimes Act. For example, S18 of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW):
Murder shall be taken to have been committed where the act of the accused, or thing by him or her omitted to be done, causing the death charged, was done or omitted with reckless indifference to human life, or with intent to kill or inflict grievous bodily harm upon some person, or done in an attempt to commit, or during or immediately after the commission, by the accused, or some accomplice with him or her, of a crime punishable by imprisonment for life or for 25 years.The guideline specifically are in bold. These guidelines are
binding on all jurisdictions, decisions made by judges in sentencing must abide by legislative/statutory guidelines.
Judicial guidelines instead come from decisions made by other judges (aka, precedent). Officially, this takes the form of
guideline judgements, decisions made previously that are used as a guideline for subsequent decisions. However, it can also refer to precedent in a general sense.
Also I was going through the 2012 papers sample answers and for assessing the criminal trial process it noted "VIS can sway punishment outcomes." I've never heard of VIS and google didn't provide any answers, does anyone know what it is/regard it as important?
Jake's link above has you set, for our purposes just know what a
Victim Impact Statement, where it comes into play, and why it is relevant. It is a good piece of evidence for essays on balancing rights and/or sentencing