‘Sexual Offences Against Adults and Children: A New Regime’

Legal Aid NSW Criminal Law Division

In this podcast, solicitors Caitlin Akthar and Ruth Carty discuss laws relating to sex offences.

As well as an overview of common offences, they discuss reforms to the law including:

1. the application of the law of consent to a broader range of offences – s61HE of the Crimes Act;
2. the introduction of a defence of similar age – section 80AG of the Crimes Act;
3. the discretion to declare a young offender is not to be included on the Child Protection Register (CPR) - 3C of the Child Protection (Offenders Registration) Act; and
4. the jury warning explaining potential reasons for inconsistency in a complainant’s evidence - 293A of the Criminal Procedure Act

The paper by Caitlin and Ruth, ‘Sexual Offences Against Adults and Children: A New Regime’ is available from: https://criminalcpd.net.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Sexual-Offences-Against-Adults-and-Children-A-New-Regime-Caitlin-Akthar-and-Ruth-Cary-October-2019.pdf.’

About the speakers:

Caitlin Akthar is the Solicitor in Charge of the Indictable Appeals Unit at Legal Aid NSW. She has experience in the NSW Local, Children’s, District, and Supreme Courts; the Court of Criminal Appeal and the High Court of Australia. She is on the New South Wales Law Society’s Criminal Law Committee, and the New South Wales Law Society’s Children’s Issues Committee.

Ruth Carty is a Criminal Law Solicitor and the Summary Court’s Manager at the Coffs Harbour office of Legal Aid NSW. She has been with Legal Aid NSW since 2015 and practices in the NSW Local, Children’s and District Courts.