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Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for which, in some countries, a person could receive this sentence include murder, torture, terrorism, child abuse resulting in death, rape, espionage, treason, drug trafficking, drug possession, human trafficking, severe fraud and financial crimes, aggravated criminal damage, arson, kidnapping, burglary, and robbery, piracy, aircraft hijacking, and genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, severe cases of child pornography, or any three felonies in case of three-strikes law. Life imprisonment can also be imposed, in certain countries, for traffic offences causing death. Life imprisonment is not used in all countries; Portugal was the first country to abolish life imprisonment, in 1884.
Perverting the course of justice is an offence committed when a person prevents justice from being served on themselves or on another party. In England and Wales it is a common law offence, carrying a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. Statutory versions of the offence exist in Australia, Canada, Ireland, and New Zealand. The Scottish equivalent is defeating the ends of justice, although charges of attempting to pervert the course of justice are also raised in Scotland, while the South African counterpart is defeating or obstructing the course of justice. A similar concept, obstruction of justice, exists in United States law.
Mandatory sentencing requires that offenders serve a predefined term of imprisonment for certain crimes, commonly serious or violent offenses. Judges are bound by law; these sentences are produced through the legislature, not the judicial system. They are instituted to expedite the sentencing process and limit the possibility of irregularity of outcomes due to judicial discretion. Mandatory sentences are typically given to people who are convicted of certain serious and/or violent crimes, and require a prison sentence. Mandatory sentencing laws vary across nations; they are more prevalent in common law jurisdictions because civil law jurisdictions usually prescribe minimum and maximum sentences for every type of crime in explicit laws.
Mark Valera is an Australian serial killer who was convicted in 2000 of the murders of David O'Hearn and Frank Arkell in Wollongong, New South Wales. Valera handed himself into police after the murders, and in court accused his father of violent and sexual abuse, citing this as the reason he himself turned violent. His sister, Belinda van Krevel, later organised for their father to be murdered by a family friend. Valera is currently incarcerated at the Goulburn Correctional Centre, where he is serving a life sentence with no possibility of parole.
The Crimes Act1900 (NSW) is an Act of the Parliament of New South Wales that defines an extensive list of offences and sets out punishments for the majority of criminal offences in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. The Act, alongside the Crimes Act 1914 (Cth) and the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth), form the almost complete basis of criminal law for the State. It is the primary criminal law statute of NSW, and which formed the basis for the Australian Capital Territory's Crimes Act1900 (ACT).
Allan Baker and Kevin Crump are a notorious Australian duo of rapists and double murderers who are currently serving life sentences in prison.
Bruce Allan Burrell was an Australian convicted kidnapper and double murderer, who in 2006 was sentenced to a term of life imprisonment plus 44 years for the 1995 murder of 74-year-old Dorothy Davis and the 1997 murder of 39-year-old Kerry Whelan, neither of whom was ever found, with Burrell not revealing the location of his victims' bodies. Burrell died at the Prince of Wales Hospital at Randwick, whilst still in prison custody on 4 August 2016, aged 63, from lung and liver cancer.
Michael Kanaan is an Australian triple murderer from Sydney, currently serving three sentences of life imprisonment plus 50 years and 4 months without the possibility of parole, for the murder of three people and other offences, all committed in Sydney between 17 July 1998 and 22 December 1998. In the drama series Underbelly: The Golden Mile, he was portrayed by actor Ryan Corr.
The Darwiche–Razzak–Fahda family conflict was a series of murders and assaults among three Australian families of Lebanese descent in south-west Sydney, New South Wales between February 2001 and March 2009. Some family members were part of rival cannabis operations. Marital breakdowns were also reportedly a factor in the crimes.
Naseam El-Zeyat is an Australian double murderer from Sydney, currently serving two sentences of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for the murder of two people in October 2003.
Adnan "Eddie" Darwiche is an Australian double murderer from Sydney, currently serving 2 sentences of life imprisonment plus 20 years without the possibility of parole for two murders and two assaults with a firearm.
Samuel Leonard Boyd is an Australian spree killer from New South Wales, currently serving four consecutive sentences of life imprisonment plus 25 years without the possibility of parole for the murder of four people and the malicious wounding of a fifth between September 1982 and April 1983.
Matthew James Harris is an Australian serial killer from Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, currently serving two sentences of life imprisonment plus 40 years' imprisonment without the possibility of parole for the murder of three people in and around Wagga Wagga in October and November 1998.
Life imprisonment is the most severe criminal sentence available to the State and Territory Supreme Courts in Australia. Most cases attracting the sentence are murder. It is also imposed, albeit rarely, for sexual assault, manufacturing and trafficking commercial quantities of illicit drugs, and offences against the justice system and government security.
In Australia, murder is a criminal offence where a person, by a voluntary act or omission, causes the death of another person with either intent to kill, intent to inflict grievous bodily harm, or with reckless indifference to human life. It may also arise in circumstances where the accused was committing, or assisting in the commission, of a different serious crime that results in a person's death. It is usually punished by life imprisonment.
Natalie Jane Adams is an Australian judge. She has been a judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales since 2016.
Christine Elizabeth Adamson is an Australian judge. She has been a Judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales since October 2011.
Elizabeth Lillian Fullerton is an Australian lawyer, specialising in criminal law, who has been a judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales since February 2007.
On 15 September 2003, two Singaporean students and flatmates Tay Chow Lyang (郑潮亮) and Tony Tan Poh Chuan (陈宝川), were found brutally murdered in their flat in Sydney. The boys' fellow classmate and friend Ram Puneet Tiwary, also a Singaporean, was accused of these two violent murders. The case, dubbed the "Sydney double murders" in media, made headlines in both Singapore and Australia.
References
- 1 2 3 R v Darwiche; R v El-Zeyat; R v Aouad; R v Osmanand [2006] NSWSC 1167 (10 November 2006), Supreme Court (NSW,Australia).
- 1 2 Darwiche v R; El-Zeyat v R; Aouad v R; Osman v R [2011] NSWCCA 62 (8 April 2011), Court of Criminal Appeal (NSW,Australia).
- 1 2 Aouad and El-Zeyat v R [2011] NSWCCA 61 (8 April 2011), Court of Criminal Appeal (NSW,Australia).
- ↑ R v El-Zeyat; R v Aouad [2015] NSWSC 63 (13 February 2015), Supreme Court (NSW,Australia).