Results 29,441-29,460 of 29,533 for speaker:Brendan Howlin
- Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Sep 2024)
Brendan Howlin: I do not reference murder. Where the Minister's proposals in her Bill apply, my amendment seeks to leave it up to the court to determine what the appropriate order or sentence is. This is the difficulty I have. You cannot have equality between a person aged under 18 and a person who is 18 or older. That is not possible because the Children Act no longer applies to that person. Somebody...
- Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Sep 2024)
Brendan Howlin: The 2001 Act does not apply to anyone over 18.
- Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Sep 2024)
Brendan Howlin: Under what?
- Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Sep 2024)
Brendan Howlin: I do not understand that.
- Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Sep 2024)
Brendan Howlin: I am not referencing murder at all.
- Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Sep 2024)
Brendan Howlin: Where in the amendment?
- Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Sep 2024)
Brendan Howlin: That is taken directly from the Minister's Bill. That is a simple recitation of section (2)(b) of the Minister's Bill, where it states: “(2) Subsection (1) shall not apply to the sentencing of a person convicted of murder who was under the age of 18 years when he or she committed the murder but has attained that age on or before the date of such sentencing.”
- Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Sep 2024)
Brendan Howlin: I am restating the subsection the Minister has in the Bill in relation to a person convicted of murder who was under the age of 18. Whether my amendment is passed or rejected, that statement will be in the Bill and in the law. The only new thing is the new subsection which specifically states it will be up to the court to determine the order or sentence. The Minister said she cannot do...
- Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Sep 2024)
Brendan Howlin: The Children Act cannot apply because it states that it applies to children under the age of 18.
- Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Sep 2024)
Brendan Howlin: The Children Act does not apply to anybody over 18. That is a simple fact.
- Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Sep 2024)
Brendan Howlin: That is a different thing.
- Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Sep 2024)
Brendan Howlin: I am just trying to understand the logic of it. Clearly, the Children Act does not apply to anybody who is over 18. The Minister's base point is, as I understand it, that anomalous category. My contention is that you cannot create a perfect equality between somebody aged under 18 and somebody aged over 18 because one is categorised as a child and the other is not. What the Minister wants...
- Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Sep 2024)
Brendan Howlin: Children cannot be sent to prison under the Children Act. The Minister is saying that children who have aged out and are now adults can be sent to prison.
- Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Sep 2024)
Brendan Howlin: No, the Minister is disapplying a mandatory life sentence but they can get a life sentence. That is what the Minister told us yesterday.
- Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Sep 2024)
Brendan Howlin: That is what I am saying. A child cannot be sent to prison. There is no equality there.
- Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Sep 2024)
Brendan Howlin: What is silent?
- Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Sep 2024)
Brendan Howlin: There is no reference to murder. Section 156 of the Children Act 2001 states: "No court shall pass a sentence of imprisonment on a child or commit a child to prison." That is what the law of the land states. A child who offends can be made subject to a detention order under that Act but, under the Minister's proposal, aged-out children can be sent to prison. Is that not a fact?
- Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Sep 2024)
Brendan Howlin: If I withdraw the amendment now, a court could impose a prison sentence on an aged-out child. The Minister told us yesterday that aged-out children could be sentenced to life imprisonment, in fact. I am trying to understand the Minister's own proposal. If I withdraw the amendment, what will be the state of the law? Will it be open to a court to send such an aged-out child to prison for murder?
- Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Sep 2024)
Brendan Howlin: The Minister's officials are saying "Yes", so it will be.
- Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Sep 2024)
Brendan Howlin: It is possible, then, to send an aged-out adult to prison. It is not possible to commit a child to prison. There is no equality.