NT

Under the Northern Territory Criminal Code Act 1983, there are a number of ways that a person can be found guilty of an offence even when they did not commit the physical acts that make up the offence. A person has criminal responsibility for criminal acts that they assisted, prepared for, attempted to commit, or…

The Northern Territory has two youth detention centres, Don Dale Detention Centre in Darwin and Alice Springs Detention Centre. Government statistics reveal that the majority of young people in detention in the NT are being held on remand, with only a small minority having been sentenced to detention. The overwhelming majority of children held in…

On the 6th June 2019 the NT Children’s Commissioner Colleen Gwynne delivered her independent monitoring reports on the two youth detention centres in the Territory. The reports found numerous shortcomings in the facilities and the procedures followed when dealing with youths who were at risk, separated or in lock-down. They also found the provision of…

The law varies from state to state as to whether a person can consent to being assaulted. While some jurisdictions have definitions of assault that explicitly require lack of consent for the offence to be made out, others do not. The Northern Territory definition of assault requires lack of consent on the part of the…

The Northern Territory has by far the highest rate of homelessness of any Australian jurisdiction. According to the 2016 census, 13,717 people in the NT are currently homeless. While the national rate of homelessness is 50 homeless people in every 10,000 Australians, in the NT the figure is 730 per 10,000 Territorians. The reasons for…

Northern Territory laws regulating the treatment of animals were tightened in 2018 with the passage of the Animal Protection Act. The Act replaces the Animal Welfare Act 1999 and imposes harsher penalties for animal cruelty. The Act has been welcomed by the animal welfare sector as strengthening laws against animal cruelty but it has also…

Murder is the intentional unlawful killing of another person. It is the most serious crime that Northern Territory courts deal with and attracts a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment. Manslaughter occurs when a person dies as the result of an unlawful assault, but where the offender did not intend to kill the victim. In the…

Imprisonment is the most severe penalty that Northern Territory courts can impose.  The NT has a higher incarceration rate than any other state or territory, with Aboriginal people over-represented in the prison population. Adult prisoners in the NT are housed at Darwin Correctional Centre and in Alice Springs Correctional Centre. Juvenile prisoners are housed in…

The laws surrounding abortion in the Northern Territory were reformed in 2017. The Termination of Pregnancy Law Reform Act 2017 decriminalises abortion when performed by a qualified person for women who are less than 23 weeks pregnant.  However, the act does not allow for ‘abortion on demand’ but only for abortion when it is necessary…

The Companion Animals Act sets out the responsibilities of owners and of councils in respect of domestic dogs and cats and provides for what steps can be taken by councils and courts if dogs and cats are not adequately controlled. The Crimes Act 1900 contains offences involving dogs and the Companion Animals Act sets out…

The consequences of being found unfit to plead in the Northern Territory have been the subject of controversy for some time. Despite provisions in the Criminal Code Act and the Mental Health and Related Services Act that seek to ensure offenders who suffer from mental impairments are dealt with appropriately, many such persons are kept…

On 16 January 2019, the NT Coroner handed down his findings in the inquest into the death of Australian Defence Force soldier Jason Roger Challis while taking part in a live firing exercise near Darwin. The 25-year-old died after being shot in the head by his fellow soldiers after taking up an incorrect position behind…

Aboriginal customary law is a term used loosely to refer to the traditional punishments and dispute-resolving processes used in Aboriginal communities. The criminal law in Australia is derived from the British legal system and contains many culturally specific assumptions about the nature of law and order that are at times ill-suited to the way disputes…

In the Northern Territory, the Youth Justice Act governs how young offenders are to be treated by police and what options the Youth Justice Court has for dealing with youths facing criminal charges.  The Youth Justice Court deals with young people between the ages of 10 and 18 (children aged under 10 are not criminally liable). The…

Advocates for LGBTIQ rights in the Northern Territory have campaigned long and hard for an end to discrimination against LGBTIQ people. As the law in the NT now stands, the rights of non-heterosexuals are protected in most areas. However, the NT Anti-Discrimination Act does not comprehensively protect individuals from discrimination on the basis of gender…

There are a number of different offences that can be charged as ‘trespass’ in the NT. Criminal trespass is governed by the Trespass Act and governs situations where a person enters private property without permission and when a person fails to leave property after a direction to do so. Trespass is an offence usually punished…