The Criminal Codes

The new edition of The Criminal Codes: Commentary and Materials will be welcomed by those studying Criminal Law in Western Australia and Queensland. Associate Professor Thomas Crofts (Murdoch) and Dr Kelley Burton (QUT) have substantially revised this book to increase overall clarity and to ensure a balanced examination of the criminal law in the “Code” States, Queensland and Western Australia. This edition provides valuable comment on the recent wide-reaching reforms to the law of homicide in Western Australia. Significant developments in both States discussed in this edition include:

• The abolition of wilful murder and infanticide, and the new definition of murder (WA);
• The introduction of the new offence of unlawful assault causing death (WA);
• The abolition of provocation to murder (WA), and whether this excuse still has a part to play (Qld);
• The reformulation of the excuse of self defence, and the introduction of excessive self defence (WA);
• The creation of offences for drink spiking (Qld and WA); and
• Current and proposed sentencing considerations (Qld and WA).

Fundamental principles of the criminal law are illustrated throughout the book by selected extracts from the Codes and case law, while additional materials foster critical reflection on the law and the need for reform. As The Honourable Michael Kirby AC CMG, former Justice of the High Court of Australia notes in the Foreword to this edition:
“Criminal law and procedure, and even basic doctrines, change in response to shifting social needs, concerns and understandings. Just because criminal law is expressed in the form of a code does not release the law’s practitioners, or other citizens, from the need to study it in the context of other legal and social developments....

Appreciating this feature of the law demonstrates the special value that this book has. It gives a solid grounding in the criminal law stated in the Codes. At the same time, it fosters a critical reflection on the law and seeks to inspire practitioners, students and other readers to question why the law is the way that it is and what values might be openly or implicitly reflected in it.”