Hemming on 'Criminal Responsibility: Older but No Wiser’

Associate Professor Andrew Hemming of the University of Southern Queensland School of Law and Justice has published a new article titled 'Criminal Responsibility: Older but No Wiser'.  The article appears in Volume 46 of the Criminal Law Journal.  Here is the abstract:

"This paper is a rejoinder to an article entitled ‘Will Australia Raise the Minimum Age of Criminal Responsibility?’ and an editorial entitled ‘A New Architecture for Youth Justice’ both published in the Criminal Law Journal in 2019 and 2022 respectively, in which Professor Thomas Crofts and editor Phillip Boulten endorsed previous calls for an increase in the minimum age of criminal responsibility (MACR) in Australia to a minimum of 12 years of age and preferably 14 years of age. By contrast, the author supports the retention of doli incapax for children aged between 10 and 13 years of age to address the small number of children who represent a threat to public safety, and argues that the neuroscience relied upon by proponents of raising the MACR is dated. The author supports the Queensland Government’s position that simply raising the MACR does not address the complex societal factors underlying offending by children. Any solution to child offending requires a recognition that without improved social justice for the most disadvantaged sections of society, raising the MACR is both pointless and dangerous."

McKibbin on 'The Common Law Jurisprudence of the Conflict of Laws'

Dr Sarah McKibbin, a Lecturer at the University of Southern Queensland School of Law and Justice, has co-edited (along with Anthony Kennedy) a new collected titled The Common Law Jurisprudence of the Conflict of Laws.  The book is published by Hart.  Here is the publisher's synopsis:

"This book presents a collection of leading common law cases in private international law ranging from the 18th to the 21st century. The cases traverse issues of jurisdiction, choice of law and the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments. Questions of marital validity, domicile, foreign immovable property and choice of law in contract are just some of the topics that this collection examines. The 'unusual factual situations' of some 18th- and 19th-century English cases also reveal compelling human interest stories and political controversies worthy of further exploration.

Drawing on a diverse team of contributors, this edited collection showcases the research of eminent conflicts scholars together with emerging scholars from the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Ireland and South Africa."