This book is a comprehensive guide to the impact of human rights law upon Australian criminal process. Increasingly, the law of Australian criminal process is being moulded by human rights instruments. The Human Rights Act 2004 (ACT) and the Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities 2006 have altered significantly Australian criminal process requirements. In addition they have provided an indication of the potential (and, at times actual) impact across the country of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (the ICCPR).


This book is a commentary from a criminal justice perspective upon this legislation and its analogous international models. Its informed analysis of key criminal process issues is thematically structured:


arrest, detention and bail in the context of the right to personal liberty, the first and end of human laws (Blackstone)


the right to silence in both trial and pre-trial contexts


rights to security of the person and to privacy, from the most intimate invasion of personal autonomy to search of premises, and


fair trial rights and many of the vast array of judicial, prosecution and practitioner obligations, pre-trial and trial, including for example delay, disclosure, waiver of rights and witness questioning


As this book reveals, human rights jurisprudence is an agent for appreciating new perspectives that resonate with, but as yet have not been traversed in breadth and depth by Australian courts. Whilst human rights obligations may offer some transformative potential, in many respects its realisation rests with courtsaEURO (TM) willingness to follow courageous paths.


This book provides a detailed coverage of key trends and developments. It collects together for legal practitioners, academics and law students the extensive international human rights jurisprudence of the UK, Europe, Canada, the USA, South Africa, New Zealand and Hong Kong. Key cases are highlighted throughout and all is placed into a highly readable and engaging format.