Draft Criminal Code for the Australian Territories Current Comment
| Published date | 01 December 1971 |
| Date | 01 December 1971 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/000486587100400409 |
| Subject Matter | Original Articles |
248 AUST. &N.Z. JOURNAL OF CRIMINOLOGY (Dec., 1971): 4, 4
CURRENT COMMENT (2)
Criminology
Research
Act,
1971
THE Commonwealth
Criminology
Research
Act
1971
(assented to on
the
6th
April) constitutes
an
important
contribution to
the
development of
rational
policies on crime
and
law enforcement in Australia.
It
is to be
hoped
that,
despite budgetary difficulties,
the
Government will be able
to
set
the
machinery of
the
Institute
of Criminology
and
the
Criminology
Research Council in motion as soon as possible.
Under
the
Act
the
Australian
Institute
of
Criminology
is constituted as
an
independent
statutory
corporation,
the
main
functions of which
are:
(a)
to conduct
such
criminological research as is approved by
the
board;
(b) To communicate to
the
Commonwealth
and
the
States
the
results of research conducted by
the
institute;
(c) To conduct
such
seminars
and
courses of
training
or instruction
for persons engaged, in criminological research, or
in
work related to
the
prevention or correction of criminological
behaviour as
are
approved by
the
board
...
,
and
further,
generally to give advice in
relation
to programmes for
criminological research
and
criminal statistics. Publication of
any
material
resulting from
the
performance of
the
institute's function may only
take
place
with
the
approval of
the
board.
The
general overall control of
the
institute
is vested in a
board
of
management,
which will consist of six members,
three
appointed
annually
by
the
Federal Attorney-General (one of whom
shall
be
chairman)
and
three
appointed annually by
the
council (a dtstinct body
the
composition
of which will be outlined below).
Although
the
general overall planning of
the
institute
rests
with
the
board,
day-to-day
control of operations rests
with
the
director,
Who
is
appointed
at
Cabinet level. His
appointment
is for a maximum period of
seven years (during which
time
he
cannot
be dismissed, except on very
narrow grounds)
and
he is subject to
mandatory
retirement
at
the
age of
65. Employment of
staff
for
the
purposes of
institute
work Is primarily
in
the
hands
of
the
director,
but
appointments
are
subject to
the
approval of
the
Attorney-General.
In
general,
it
appears from
the
Act
that
the
powers
of
the
director
are
to be firmly subject to
the
control of
the
board of
management,
since by section 9 (4) "The director
...
is
not
eligible for
appointment
to
the
Board."
It
is conceivable
that
the
inflexibility of
this
provision
may
cause diffi-
culties
at
some
future
date.
The
institute
is funded directly
by
the
Treasury,
and
although
at
this
point in
time
it
is impossible to predict
the
amount
of finance which will
be made available, Section 29 seems
at
least to envisage a
substantial
grant:
"The
institute
shall
not, except
with
the
approval of
the
Attorney-General,
enter
into
a
contract
involving
the
payment
by
the
institute
of
an
amount
exceeding
fifty
thousand
dollars".
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