New legislation
New legislation to streamline criminal procedure commenced on 1 January 2010. The Criminal Procedure Act 2009 consolidates criminal procedure laws previously contained in four separate Acts (Crimes Act 1958, Crimes (Criminal Trials) Act 1999, Evidence Act 1958 and Magistrates’ Court Act 1989).
At Criminal Procedure Act 2009 you will find a version of the Act that includes a navigation tree. The navigation tree makes it much easier to find particular sections.
The following sections relating to committal and indictable offences heard summarily are particularly relevant to teachers of VCE Legal Studies Unit 4.
97. Purposes of a committal proceeding
The purposes of a committal proceeding are—
(a) to determine whether a charge for an offence is appropriate to be heard and determined summarily;
(b) to determine whether there is evidence of sufficient weight to support a conviction for the offence charged;
(c) to determine how the accused proposes to plead to the charge;
(d) to ensure a fair trial, if the matter proceeds to trial, by—
(i) ensuring that the prosecution case against the accused is adequately disclosed in the form of depositions;
(ii) enabling the accused to hear or read the evidence against the accused and to cross-examine prosecution witnesses;
(iii) enabling the accused to put forward a case at an early stage if the accused wishes to do so;
(iv) enabling the accused to adequately prepare and present a case;
(v) enabling the issues in contention to be adequately defined.
28. Indictable offences that may be heard and determined summarily
(1) A charge for any of the following indictable offences may be heard and determined summarily by the Magistrates' Court, if Section 29 is satisfied—
(a) an offence referred to in Schedule 2;
b) an indictable offence under an Act or subordinate instrument or an
offence at common law if the offence is described by an Act or
subordinate instrument as being—
(i) a level 5 offence or level 6 offence; or
(ii) punishable by level 5 or level 6 imprisonment or fine or both; or
(iii) punishable by a term of imprisonment not exceeding 10 years or a fine not exceeding 1200 penalty units or both—unless the contrary intention appears in this or any other Act or in any subordinate instrument.

VCTA VCE Legal Studies Student Lectures in September
Sunday 12 September, 2010 (am), The University of Melbourne
Please let your students know about the VCTA student lectures; they can register themselves online.

For a copy of the program click here
For registrations click here

Lectures are also offered in VCE Accounting, Business Management, Economics, and Industry and Enterprise.

VCTA Professional Learning: Terms 3 2010
VCTAs professional learning program continues this semester. You can register online; don’t forget to first log in using your own user name and password. All professional learning activities are located on the VCTA website under Professional Learning.

• VCE Unit 4: Tuesday 27 July, Shelford Girls Grammar in Caulfield; repeated Thursday 29 July at Balwyn HS.
• VCE Legal Studies: Fine tuning for 2010, preparing for 2011. Ideas and timelines plus you receive a free copy of the new Making and Breaking the Law by VCTA Publishing. Thursday 19 August in Moorabbin and repeated Wednesday 25 August in Parkville
• VELS: Learning activities to engage: globalisation, financial literacy and more and you receive a free copy of the newly updated text Money, Markets and Citizenship by VCTA Publishing. 18 August (after school) at St Catherine’s School in Toorak.
• Additional programs are offered for other VCE subjects so check out our full suite of Term 3 programs

VCTA Comview Conference
Monday 6 and Tuesday 7 December
Victoria University, 300 Flinders Street, Melbourne.

For information including registration fees and an overview of sessions visit the new Comview website

A High court judge, Supreme court judges, lawyers, teachers and case studies; all part of the mix as we explore the newly accredited VCE Legal Studies study design 2011.

And this year, VELS is back with sessions focusing on classroom ideas for Years 7 to 10 including ideas for VELS Economics. See you there!

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