Wrongfully convicted prisoners face what is known as “the innocent prisoner’s dilemma” when they become eligible for parole. A prisoner’s willingness to take responsibility for their crime and express remorse is a vital part of parole decision-making process. But if they maintain they are innocent and do not admit responsibility or express remorse, they may be denied parole. On the other hand, if they do accept responsibility for a crime they did not commit, they may limit any options for post-conviction review. As recently highlighted in the case of Keli Lane, this dilemma is compounded by no body, no parole laws requiring prisoners to disclose the location of victims’ remains. This webinar will provide an overview of: The politicisation of no body no parole regimes in Australia and the impact on victims’ families The effectiveness of no body no parole legislation Challenges in evaluating the effectiveness of the legislation The impact of no body no parole laws on the wrongfully convicted Options for reform. Michele Ruyters, is Associate Dean, Criminology and Justice Studies with RMIT's School of Global, Urban and Social Studies at RMIT University. Michele is the founder and director of the Bridge of Hope Innocence Initiative and the Criminal Case Review Project at RMIT University. Michele's practice and research interests are in wrongful convictions and lived experiences of miscarriages of justice. This event is free for ANZAPPL members. It is $20 for non-members and $5 for full-time students. Please click here to register. This event will be live-streamed and recorded. Recordings will be available for ANZAPPL members only via the website.

This full day workshop will explore "strength-based approaches” (SBAs) which are those that are directed at the treatment of adults and juveniles who have engaged in sexually abusive behaviours. SBAs aim to build upon strengths in areas where there are current problems to effectively offset the deficits (i.e., the so-called “criminogenic” factors) that have been shown to lead to a propensity to reoffend. SBAs include treatment presented to the clients as aimed at instilling the capacities for them to have a better, more fulfilling, prosocial future; treatment that assists clients to identify their current strengths to instil optimism and begin the processes of growing a sense of self-efficacy; the focus on strengths to offset the relevant criminogenic issues; help clients consolidate strengths. Click here to book for this event.

A/Prof. Shuichi Suetani is a community psychiatrist in Brisbane. He works as Senior Psychiatrist at the Institute for Urban Indigenous Health. Alongside his psychiatry training (which included two years at the Park), Shuichi completed a PhD exploring the epidemiological relationships between physical activity and mental disorders. Shuichi has published several peer reviewed publications and sits on a few journal editorial committees. Shuichi will speak present about his experience working as a psychiatrist in the largest Aboriginal community-controlled health organisation in Australia. One of his supervisors at the Park often emphasised the importance of Primum non nocere (first do no harm). He often thinks about who does the most harm and who is harmed the most, especially in the context of mental health in general, and psychiatry in particular. This event is free to attend, but please email Mark Kebbell (m.kebbell@griffith.edu.au) to indicate your attendance so that we can manage numbers. Please click here for a flyer.

The 2024 Annual General Meeting of ANZAPPL New South Wales will take place at 7.00pm on Wednesday 6 March, via Zoom. For further information or to register, please click here. This link will only work for active members.

In this full-day workshop, designed for psychologists, psychiatrists, and legal practitioners, Prof. Scott will provide attendees with the knowledge and skills to confidently evaluate claims of dissociation in forensic contexts. This paid event will be held on Thursday 30 November 2023 at Cliftons Freshwater Place, Southbank VIC 3006. The workshop will be livestreamed for those who are unable to attend in person. All attendees will have access to a recording of the workshop after the event. Registration for this event is essential. Click here to register. Charles Scott, MD, is Chief, Division of Psychiatry and the Law, Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship Training Director, and Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at the University of California, Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, California. He is Board Certified in General Psychiatry, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and has Added Qualifications in Forensic Psychiatry and Addiction Psychiatry. Dr. Scott is a Past-President of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law (AAPL) and is also Past-President of the Association of Directors of Forensic Psychiatry Fellowships. He has served as a member of the AAPL national task force to develop guidelines for the evaluation of criminal responsibility and competency to stand trial. Dr. Scott is one of four national AAPL Forensic Psychiatry Review Course Faculty instructors and in 2008 received the AAPL award as the most outstanding forensic psychiatry fellowship program instructor in the United States. Dr. Scott has served as a forensic psychiatric consultant to jails, prisons, maximum security forensic inpatient units, California Department of State Hospitals, and as a consultant to the National Football League (NFL) providing training on violence risk assessment for NFL counselors. He has performed suitability evaluations for NASA’s Astronaut Selection Board. His academic subspecialty is child and adolescent forensic psychiatry. Dr. Scott has authored book chapters on juvenile violence, mental health law, and co-authored chapters on child psychiatry and the assessment of dangerousness. He has served as editor or co-editor for numerous books and is co-editor of the Third Edition of Principles and Practice of Forensic Psychiatry. His research interests include the relationship of substance use to aggression among criminal defendants, on the quality of forensic evaluations of criminal responsibility, child witness testimony, malingering, and assessment of posttraumatic stress disorder. He lectures nationally on the topics of malingering, violence risk assessment, juvenile violence, substance use and violence, the assessment of sex offenders, correctional psychiatry, DSM-5 and the law, and malpractice issues in mental health.

ANZAPPL Victoria’s Annual General Meeting will be held at 6 pm (AEDT) on Wednesday 29 November 2023 at Zinc (Federation Square), Cnr Princes Walk and Russel St Ext, Melbourne VIC 3000. All active members of ANZAPPL Victoria are welcome to attend. Registration to attend is essential. Click here to register for this event at the Annual Lecture. You may attend the AGM online if you cannot do so in person. A Zoom link will be circulated to all members on the day of the meeting. Alternatively, you may appoint another member as a proxy if you are unable to attend. Please access all relevant forms here. The meeting will be followed by the branch’s Annual Lecture, which will be delivered by Professor Charles Scott. Additional information about the Annual Lecture and registration can be found here.

ANZAPPL Victoria Annual Lecture 2023 This lecture is based on Prof. Scott’s clinical assessment of Nikolas Cruz, a young man recently sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after he was convicted of killing 17 people and seriously injuring 17 others in the deadliest high school shooting in US history. Drawing on a series of videotapes of his assessment and the trial, Prof. Scott will provide insights on how foetal alcohol syndrome disorder is being considered by the defence in criminal trials in the USA. This event will be held on Wednesday 29 November 2023 at Zinc (Federation Square), Cnr Princes Walk and Russel St Ext, Melbourne VIC 3000. We warmly invite you to join us for canapés and drinks from 5:30 pm (AEDT). The lecture will follow at 6:30 pm. The lecture will be livestreamed for those who unable to attend in person. Attendance is free, but registration is essential. All attendees will have access to a recording of the lecture after the event. Charles Scott, MD, is Chief, Division of Psychiatry and the Law, Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship Training Director, and Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at the University of California, Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, California. He is Board Certified in General Psychiatry, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and has Added Qualifications in Forensic Psychiatry and Addiction Psychiatry. Dr. Scott is a Past-President of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law (AAPL) and is also Past-President of the Association of Directors of Forensic Psychiatry Fellowships. He has served as a member of the AAPL national task force to develop guidelines for the evaluation of criminal responsibility and competency to stand trial. Dr. Scott is one of four national AAPL Forensic Psychiatry Review Course Faculty instructors and in 2008 received the AAPL award as the most outstanding forensic psychiatry fellowship program instructor in the United States. Dr. Scott has served as a forensic psychiatric consultant to jails, prisons, maximum security forensic inpatient units, California Department of State Hospitals, and as a consultant to the National Football League (NFL) providing training on violence risk assessment for NFL counselors. He has performed suitability evaluations for NASA’s Astronaut Selection Board. His academic subspecialty is child and adolescent forensic psychiatry. Dr. Scott has authored book chapters on juvenile violence, mental health law, and co-authored chapters on child psychiatry and the assessment of dangerousness. He has served as editor or co-editor for numerous books and is co-editor of the Third Edition of Principles and Practice of Forensic Psychiatry. His research interests include the relationship of substance use to aggression among criminal defendants, on the quality of forensic evaluations of criminal responsibility, child witness testimony, malingering, and assessment of posttraumatic stress disorder. He lectures nationally on the topics of malingering, violence risk assessment, juvenile violence, substance use and violence, the assessment of sex offenders, correctional psychiatry, DSM-5 and the law, and malpractice issues in mental health. Click here to register for this event. The Annual Lecture will be preceded by the Annual General Meeting of ANZAPPL Vic. Click here for further information.

The 2023 Annual General Meeting of ANZAPPL Queensland will be held on 23 November 2023. Please click here for an agenda and access details.

This end-of-year event by the Australian and New Zealand Association of Psychiatry, Psychology and Law will feature a talk by Dr Allan McCay, the Annual General Meeting of the Association and a panel discussion on continuing supervision and detention. This event will be held online and in person in Sydney. It is free for members and $50 for non-members. Registration is essential for both members and non-members. Please click here to register. New South Wales-based members can attend this event in person! The Sydney live site will include free refreshments, opportunities to network with members and post-event drinks. The live site will be at: Sydney Masonic Centre 66 Goulburn Street, Sydney SMC | Sydney Masonic Centre 1.00pm Presentation: Neurotechnology, mental health and criminal justice Developments in neurotechnology make the time right to consider the possible criminal justice implications of devices that, in time, may start to have a role in responding to mental health conditions. Such devices will likely employ machine learning approaches thereby giving rise to a closer connection between humans and AI. This talk will consider the way these devices might start to present questions for the courts in the context of criminal law. The talk is something of an anticipatory exploration which draws attention to the human rights and other legal issues that may emerge if a neurotech device was said to have a role in the commission of an offence or it was suggested that it have a role in a sentencing response to offending. Dr Allan McCay is Deputy Director of The Sydney Institute of Criminology and an Academic Fellow at the University of Sydney Law School. He trained as a solicitor in Scotland, practised in Hong Kong, and has also been admitted to practice in two Australian jurisdictions. He was named by Australasian Lawyer as one of the most influential lawyers of 2021 and again in 2023 for his work on neurotechnology and the law. 1.45pm Annual General Meeting 2.45pm Panel discussion: Continuing supervision and detention for people who engage in high-risk offending Paul Coady is a barrister who works at the Public Defender’s Chambers. He routinely appears in high-risk offender matters in New South Wales. Dr David Curnow is a forensic psychologist and Board Member and Director of the Victorian Post Sentence Authority. Dr Peter Wynn Owen is a consultant forensic psychiatrist who regularly undertakes assessments for high-risk offenders in Western Australia.

What do men who have killed their partners say about what they have done? Dr Li Eriksson Slides [PDF] People who suicide after allegations of Intimate Partner Violence Kirsty Smith Slides [PDF] The other people in the community that Intimate partner violence perpetrators kill – strangers, acquaintances, and road users Professor Mark Kebbell A flyer for this event can be viewed here.

About this event Mental health clinicians acting as expert witnesses are tasked with forming and communicating an expert opinion, grounded in clinical expertise, to assist a decision-maker (such as a court or a legal tribunal) regarding a matter of dispute in which mental health factors are potentially relevant. In this two-day workshop, senior lawyers, psychologists, and psychiatrists will provide attendees with the skills and knowledge to become confident in the role of expert witness, based on the relevant literature and their experiences in law and forensic psychiatry. Topics include Preparing for and handling cross-examination Formulating clinical opinions to assist with sentencing Managing the lawyer/expert interface Application of relevant Supreme Court Expert Evidence Notes Click here to register for this event. Facilitators The Honourable Justice Elizabeth Hollingworth studied law in Western Australia, and as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford. She was a solicitor for four years, before joining the Victorian Bar in 1991. She was appointed senior counsel in 2002. She is a current or past member of various bodies, including the International Commission of Jurists, the Council of Legal Education, the Public Interest Law Clearing House, the Forensic Leave Panel and the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine. A Senior Fellow at the University of Melbourne, a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law, and an Honorary Fellow of St Edmund Hall, Oxford, she has taught judges, practitioners and students in a broad range of subjects, including advocacy, evidence, procedure and legal writing. Appointed to the Supreme Court of Victoria in 2004, she has sat in criminal and civil trials and appeals. She was the Principal Judge in the Criminal Division between 2018 and 2022. Tim Marsh has practiced exclusively in criminal law for over 20 years. Tim was appointed as a Senior Public Defender at Victoria Legal Aid in 2011. In 2013, he was appointed as Chief Counsel, and for the next 7 years led VLA Chambers, before deciding to return to the Bar in November 2020. While Tim practices in all areas of crime, he has a strong practice in mental impairment and disability law. His work at first instance and on appeal in this area have helped clarify and reshape how the Victorian Courts treat offenders with mental illnesses. In 2020, his advocacy in the decision of Brown v The Queen saw the 2017 case of DPP v O'Neill overturned, allowing courts to take personality disorders into account in sentencing. Tim was counsel in the landmark case of DPP v Walters, which saw the controversial 'baseline sentencing' reforms declared 'incapable of practical application' by the Court of Appeal. Tim regularly appears in serious homicide cases: he was counsel at first instance for Jaymes Todd (the murder of Eurydice Dixon) and Codey Herrmann (the murder of Aiia Maasarwe). In 2021, he successfully resisted an attempt by the DPP to overturn the 36-year sentence imposed on Codey Herrmann before a full bench of the Court of Appeal in a decision of national significance for the sentencing of aboriginal offenders. Tim was a member of the Victorian Law Reform Steering Committee for the VLRC reference into mental impairment and is a past legal member of the Mental Health Review Board. Sam Norton is a partner at Stary Norton Halphen Criminal lawyers, is an accredited criminal law specialist, and is ranked in the Doyles’ guide as a Preeminent Criminal Defence solicitor. He is an advocate with extensive experience in trials and plea hearings in both the Supreme Court and County Court – including those under the Crimes (Mental Impairment and Unfitness to be Tried) Act. Sam has appeared in a number of fitness investigations and mental impairment trials including but not limited to homicides. He also has extensive experience adducing evidence from psychiatrists and psychologists at plea hearings and bail applications. Diana Piekusis KC is a Senior Crown Prosecutor at the Office of Public Prosecutions. Diana has extensive experience in criminal law and appears predominantly in the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court. Diana also appears and provides advice in relation to matters under the Crimes (Mental Impairment and Unfitness to be Tried) Act and the Serious Offenders Act. Diana provides instructions to counsel and solicitors regarding expert evidence in all criminal matters. Dr Andrew Carroll has worked as a forensic psychiatrist in both treatment and assessment roles in Australia for over 25 years. He is currently working as Deputy Chief Psychiatrist (Forensic Mental Health) at the Victorian Department of Health. He has extensive experience as an expert witness in both criminal and civil fields. He is an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Centre for Forensic Behavioural Science (Swinburne University of Technology) and has published on a range of topics including the interface between mental disorder and sentencing in the criminal courts. Dr Michael Davis is a Forensic Clinical Psychologist in full time private practice and the National Chair of the APS College of Forensic Psychologists. He has adjunct appointments at Swinburne, Monash, and Melbourne Universities. Dr Davis’ consulting practice is divided between forensic clinical assessment tasks and providing behavioural investigative advice to police agencies. He has provided behavioural investigative advice to police in several countries across three continents and serves as an instructor to the Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI. Dr Davis has conducted hundreds of assessments for the courts and in consultation for area mental health services, government departments, and private lawyers. He has given expert evidence several hundred times on the topics of risk assessment, personality disorder, and sexual deviance. Click here to register for this event.

The discussion will consider the significance of the court's observations in Dellamarta and howinicians assess an individual's capacity to understand and participate in the trial process. This panel is being organised with the Victorian Criminal Bar Association and is available as CPD. This event is being held both in person and online. To register, please click here.

Incarceration is both a marker and a driver of poor health outcomes. Rates of preventable morbidity and mortality after incarceration are extraordinarily high, indicating that incarceration is best conceived of as an ‘interruption’ in life trajectories distinguished by chronic health adversity. Among people in prison, complex multi-morbidity (including dual diagnosis) is normative and necessitates coordinated, multi-sectoral care. Custodial settings provide a rare (albeit regrettable) opportunity to identify unmet health needs and initiate appropriate care. However, achieving sustained improvements in the health of people who experience incarceration requires ongoing, high-quality care after release from custody. Yet investment in throughcare and post-release support is woefully inadequate. Poor health outcomes after incarceration compound health inequity, compromise public health, reduce public safety, and impose an avoidable burden on scarce public resources. Improving health outcomes after incarceration is therefore a whole-of-government responsibility. Forensic mental health services have a critical role to play in providing coordinated, continuous care for people who experience incarceration, but cannot operate effectively in isolation. In this presentation I will summarise the evidence underpinning these statements and argue in support of the World Health Organization (WHO) call for an approach of ‘prison health in all policies’. Professor Stuart Kinner’s research focusses on health services and health outcomes for people who come into contact with the criminal justice system. Stuart Chairs Australia’s National Youth Justice Health Advisory Group, and convenes the Australasian Justice Health Network. He serves on Australia’s National Prisoner Health Information Committee, the WHO Health in Prisons Programme Steering Group, and the Worldwide Prison Health Research and Engagement Network Steering Committee. Click here to purchase tickets.

This engaging webinar will feature legal and health perspectives on issues regarding medicinal cannabis. Questions to be explored and discussed include: What is the evidence for the use of medicinal cannabinoids in mental disorders and chronic pain? What factors do we need to keep in mind when using medicinal cannabinoids for these conditions? What are the current barriers to access to medicinal cannabis? How will decriminalisation effect medicinal cannabis? Is there still room for an illicit market? Is the medicalisation of cannabis a precursor for other previously illicit drugs? David Heilpern was appointed as a Magistrate in 1998, and was at the time the youngest magistrate in Australia. He ‘retired’ in May 2020. He sat in the criminal, mining, family, industrial, coronial and children’s jurisdictions of the Local Court, and was the Senior Civil Magistrate for five years. During his time on the bench, David was the principal educator for new magistrates throughout Australia and the Pacific and made several important reported decisions on criminal, environmental and evidence law. Prior to his appointment, David was a litigation lawyer on the North Coast where he co-founded the law school at Southern Cross University in 1992. David maintained a litigation practice throughout this time, representing a wide range of defendants including high profile clients North East Forrest Alliance and Nimbin Hemp. During this time David graduated with a Masters in Law from SCU and was pronounced the Alumni of the Decade for the University in 2005. David has authored or co-authored four published books, refereed journal articles on a range of legal and judicial topics, and is a prize-winning short story writer and poet. He regularly speaks at practical law conferences in Australia and internationally on advocacy, criminal law and courtcraft. In August 2022, David was appointed as a Dean and Head of Discipline (Law) at SCU and his writing and research is now focussed on judicial education, drug law reform, aboriginal overrepresentation in the criminal justice system and environmental activism. Gabrielle Campbell (PhD; MCrim) is a Senior Research Fellow at the School of Psychology, and National Centre for Youth Substance Use Research, University Queensland and Adjunct senior Lecturer and the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre. Gabrielle is currently the research manager for the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence on Meaningful Outcomes in Substance Use Treatment, led by Professor Leanne Hides. CI Campbell is a previous Australian Public Health Early Career Research Fellowship recipient (2017-2021, #1119992) at the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University of New South Wales. From 2012, she established and coordinated the Pain and Opioids IN Treatment prospective cohort study; world-first study examining the benefits and outcomes of pharmaceutical opioids for chronic non-cancer pain (CNCP). From 2017-2020 CI Campbell co-led systematic reviews to examine the evidence of cannabinoids for chronic non-cancer pain and mental disorders to assist the Therapeutics Goods Administrations in the development of guidance documents on the use of medicinal cannabinoids. Please click here for further information or to register.

The Domestic Violence Death Review Team (DVDRT) was established in the NSW State Coroners Court in 2011 to examine deaths that occur in the context of domestic violence. Through its quantitative and qualitative review processes, the DVDRT aims to identify patterns and trends in domestic violence-related deaths, highlight limitations or weaknesses in service delivery and develop intervention and prevention strategies aimed at improving how we respond to domestic violence, thereby preventing future deaths. This session will present an overview of the establishment and operation of the DVDRT, explore some of the key themes and issues arising in the DVDRT’s work, and reflect on the how this work contributes to the promoting knowledge, improving practice and progressing reform of the domestic violence response system. Presenters Anna Butler commenced her work as the inaugural Manager of the Domestic Violence Death Review Team (DVDRT) in 2011 and has been responsible for developing and implementing the Team’s executive function, operational framework and domestic violence reform agenda. Anna has over 15 years experience in the development of policy and legislation across a number of justice portfolios. She has qualifications in science and law and has previously held roles as a judges associate in the NSW District Court, the Executive Officer of the NSW DNA Review Panel and the Executive Officer of the NSW Sentencing Council. Cathryn Tomnay joined the Domestic Violence Death Review Team (DVDRT) as Research Analyst in February 2023. She holds a degree in International Development (BA) and has prior experience in roles across the Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG) sector including frontline work supporting victim/survivors of Gender Based Violence in the UK. This webinar will take place online and is free for members of the Association to attend. Others may purchase a ticket on the link below. Registration to attend this webinar is essential for all. Please click here to register. The webinar will be recorded and made available for members for 90 days following the event.