Bronwyn Naylor

RMIT University, Graduate School of Business and Law, Faculty Member

Monash University, Faculty of Law, Adjunct

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Bronwyn Naylor is Professor of Law in the Graduate School of Business and Law, RMIT University, Melbourne, and has degrees in Arts and Law from Monash University, and a Doctorate in Criminology from Cambridge University.

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Papers by Bronwyn Naylor

Protecting the Rights of Children and Young People in Detention: Evaluating Credibility and Effectiveness of Human Rights Monitoring Bodies

Law & Social Inquiry, Nov 29, 2023

Human rights, criminal justice and closed environments

James B Jacobs, The Eternal Criminal Record (Harvard University Press, 2015)

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Unrepresented Accused in The Magistrates’ Court of Victoria

Introduction to this Issue

Legal education review, 1995

The papers collected in this edition of The Legal Education Review were all presented at the seco... more The papers collected in this edition of The Legal Education Review were all presented at the second Feminist Legal Academics Workshop which was held at the Australian National University on February 23 and 24, 1995. The conference was attended by approximately 80 feminist academics and public servants from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and Japan, and represented an extraordinarily successful gathering of feminists involved in the teaching and administration of the law. The large and enthusiastic attendance was clearly a symptom of the growing awareness among legal academics of the importance of gender-sensitive reform of the traditional law curriculum. 1 The prevailing context, however, is also one in which traditional law teaching has been identified by the Federal Government as a major contributor to inequality before the law. Combined with current developments in legal pedagogy-including what has been called a "shifting paradigm" in thinking about the law 2-the conditions are conducive to major changes in legal education. A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE WORKSHOP The Australian Law Reform Commission's (ALRC) "Equality Reference" was established as part of the Federal Government's National Agenda for Women in early 1993. The discussion paper for the reference, ALRC Discussion Paper No 54, 3 recognised, rather tentatively, that the male domination of the legal profession is one of the factors ensuring that women are not treated equally by the law. 4 The claim made by the discussion paper is essentially that while in an ideal world the law would be made and administered by all, the reality is that women and other oppressed groups do not have equal access to legal careers, and that this is one of the reasons for discrimination by the law and legal institutions. The paper goes on to state that traditional legal education presents many obstacles to women wishing to pursue legal careers: Although there are now almost equal numbers of female and male law students, many women consider law school to be an environment determined by traditional male, hierarchical values in which they experience alienation and powerlessness. Law schools still provide few role models of women in senior academic positions. Some women students claim to be stigmatised if identifiably "feminist" in classes or seminars. While feminist jurisprudence has been incorporated into the teaching of mainstream subjects by some academics, most law schools still fail to include it among core teaching subjects like torts, criminal law or administrative law. It is more often included in the optional curriculum, where it is arguably marginalised and seen by students to be of less benefit. 5 The Law Reform Commissioners for the "Equality Reference" included leading feminist legal academics Hilary Charlesworth, Reg Graycar, and Jenny Morgan. An interim report dealing with access to the legal system was produced early in 1994, and the two parts of the final report were released late in 1994. The final report gives a clear picture of the entrenched masculine values in legal education, stating that legal education is "both a source of and a solution to the inequality women experience before the law". 6 Shortly after the release of the interim report the Federal Government announced that $300 000 from the National Priority Reserve Fund would be made available to "produce gender-inclusive curriculum material for use in undergraduate law courses". 7 The resulting "Gender Issues in the Law Curriculum" project, administered by the Department of Employment Education and Training (DEET), sought consultants to develop materials in relation to three themes-work, violence, and citizenship. The primary aim of this project is to ensure that law students are made aware of or at least gain an appreciation of, the inadequacy of existing legal principles and structures when considering the reality of women's lives. One way this can be achieved is by the development of high quality case materials, focussing on priority themes, and capable of adaptation and use by lecturers teaching core curricula areas … 8 Consultancies for the three themes were awarded to Reg Graycar and Jenny Morgan for Work and Violence, and to a group comprising Sandra Berns, Paula Baron, Marcia Neave and Beth Gaze for Citizenship. Work on each of the areas has continued rapidly throughout 1995, and it is expected that the resulting materials will be available early in 1996.

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Tim McCoy – 30 years on

Alternative Law Journal, Sep 1, 2017

D. Brennan, The Politics of Australian Child Care

The Law Institute Journal, 1999

Accountability and consumer complaint handling in the privatised Victorian electricity industry

Introduction: Clinical Legal Education and Training for the Future

Alternative Law Journal, 2007

Partial Defences to Murder: Provocation and Infanticide

Alternative Law Journal, 1998

May the Force be with You: Testing the power(s) of the Victorian Energy Industry Ombudsman

Alternative Law Journal, 1999

Solitary Confinement and the Meaning of ‘Meaningful Human Contact’

Springer eBooks, 2022

Human Rights and Their Application in Prisons

Social Science Research Network, Sep 1, 2016

It is now formally accepted that, when people are imprisoned for committing a criminal offence, t... more It is now formally accepted that, when people are imprisoned for committing a criminal offence, the loss of liberty is the punishment. They are not to be further punished by harsh conditions, humiliation or violence. This may not be universally acknowledged in the wider community but it is in principle and in law. It is therefore also accepted, and spelt out in international instruments, that prisoners retain all their human rights other than rights the limitation of which is ‘demonstrably necessitated by the fact of incarceration’. What does this mean in practice? My research over a number of years on Australian and comparable jurisdictions has suggested that making ‘human rights’ operational in prisons requires three broad areas to be working together: having rights-based laws; having a culture which endorses rights and expects prisons to be operated in ways which respect rights; and having external monitoring of rights compliance and practices within prisons. This paper outlines how these three areas work, with most attention to the first and third given space limitations.

Consumer Consultation: International Best Practice Models

Women Exiting Prison in Victoria: A Post-Release Study

Criminal record checking and employment: The importance of policy and proximity

Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology, Aug 8, 2017

Employment is essential to the rehabilitation of offenders, yet employers routinely check crimina... more Employment is essential to the rehabilitation of offenders, yet employers routinely check criminal records and rely on them to deny offenders employment. To manage these practices many jurisdictions use spent conviction and anti discrimination schemes; there have also been recent campaigns aimed at 'banning the box', requiring that questions about criminal

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Opening Pathways to Restorative Justice: Analysis of Parliamentary Debates on Sex Crime Law Reform in Victoria, Australia

Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society

This article reveals the trajectory of parliamentary debate on sex crimes over forty years in Vic... more This article reveals the trajectory of parliamentary debate on sex crimes over forty years in Victoria, Australia. We aimed to identify what might have led Parliament to support the introduction of restorative justice as an option for some sex crimes. We searched parliamentary records from 1976 to 2016 for debates on law reform for sex crimes that involved adult victims without intellectual disability. It was evident that politicians’ debates shifted in their constructs of offenses and victims in ways that appear to have created space to explore restorative justice.

LIVING DOWN THE PAST: Criminal Record Checks and Access to Employment for Ex-offenders: Final Report

The Impact of Incarceration on Children's Care: A Strategic Framework for Good Care Planning

In order to examine current care planning experiences and practices for children whose primary ca... more In order to examine current care planning experiences and practices for children whose primary carers are arrested and imprisoned in Victoria and New South Wales, this multi-method study gathered primary data from 151 imprisoned primary carers, 27 carers, three children and two adult children, along with 124 professional stakeholders. Secondary data was sought from both statutory and nongovernment organisations about imprisoned parents and children. Relevant rights, legislative and policy documents were also reviewed.

The segregation and isolation of children and young people in the Victorian Juvenile Justice System: rethinking a flawed system: submission to the Inquiry into Youth Justice Centres in Victoria

The Victorian Youth Justice system has experienced a number of riots and other serious critical i... more The Victorian Youth Justice system has experienced a number of riots and other serious critical incidents over the past few years. Various reports, including those of the Victorian Ombudsman (2010; 2013) have highlighted issues including inadequate and inappropriate facilities and infrastructure, staff shortages, staffing training and management practices. Most recently the Victorian Ombudsman reported on the placement of young people at the Grevillea unit of Barwon Prison, a repurposed adult prison (February 2017) and the Commission for Children and Young People (CCYP) reviewed the management of youth justice centres over the past 18 months, focussed specifically on the use of isolation, separation and lockdowns (CCYP 2017). At the same time, reports of the mistreatment of and assaults on young people, increasing self-harming behaviours and other critical incidents and the routine use of segregation as a behaviour management tool in the Northern Territory’s youth detention system h...

Protecting the Rights of Children and Young People in Detention: Evaluating Credibility and Effectiveness of Human Rights Monitoring Bodies

Law & Social Inquiry, Nov 29, 2023

Human rights, criminal justice and closed environments

James B Jacobs, The Eternal Criminal Record (Harvard University Press, 2015)

Download

Unrepresented Accused in The Magistrates’ Court of Victoria

Introduction to this Issue

Legal education review, 1995

Download

Tim McCoy – 30 years on

Alternative Law Journal, Sep 1, 2017

D. Brennan, The Politics of Australian Child Care

The Law Institute Journal, 1999

Accountability and consumer complaint handling in the privatised Victorian electricity industry

Introduction: Clinical Legal Education and Training for the Future

Alternative Law Journal, 2007

Partial Defences to Murder: Provocation and Infanticide

Alternative Law Journal, 1998

May the Force be with You: Testing the power(s) of the Victorian Energy Industry Ombudsman

Alternative Law Journal, 1999

Solitary Confinement and the Meaning of ‘Meaningful Human Contact’

Springer eBooks, 2022

Human Rights and Their Application in Prisons

Social Science Research Network, Sep 1, 2016

Consumer Consultation: International Best Practice Models

Women Exiting Prison in Victoria: A Post-Release Study

Criminal record checking and employment: The importance of policy and proximity

Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology, Aug 8, 2017

Download

Opening Pathways to Restorative Justice: Analysis of Parliamentary Debates on Sex Crime Law Reform in Victoria, Australia

Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society

LIVING DOWN THE PAST: Criminal Record Checks and Access to Employment for Ex-offenders: Final Report

The Impact of Incarceration on Children's Care: A Strategic Framework for Good Care Planning

The segregation and isolation of children and young people in the Victorian Juvenile Justice System: rethinking a flawed system: submission to the Inquiry into Youth Justice Centres in Victoria

Waller & Williams Criminal Law Text and Cases, 13th edition

by Penny Crofts, Tyrone Kirchengast, Thomas Crofts, Stephen Gray, Bronwyn Naylor, and Steven Tudor

This new edition of the classic Waller & Williams Criminal Law text retains its relevance in lega... more This new edition of the classic Waller & Williams Criminal Law text retains its relevance in legal and policy debates in criminal justice, providing a critical analysis of legal developments while remaining accessible for students in law schools.

The 13th edition includes new leading cases from the principal appellate courts in New South Wales, Victoria and the High Court of Australia, as well as the latest legislative provisions that have significantly changed the fabric of the criminal law.

This book unites the principal authoritative sources of the criminal law and a critical appraisal and evaluation of its doctrines. It offers comparative and policy insights into legal developments of the two common law jurisdictions of Victoria and New South Wales.

Reforming Defences to Homicide in Victoria: Another Attempt to Address the Gender Question

In 2005 in the Australian state of Victoria, significant changes were made to the defences to hom... more In 2005 in the Australian state of Victoria, significant changes were made to the defences to homicide. These reforms were in response to long standing concerns about the gendered operation of provocation and self‐defence by feminist researchers and advocates, Law Reform Commissions, the media and political pressures. This paper critically examines the reforms and the extent to which they have addressed these varied concerns and interests. The paper argues that these important law reforms have challenged some of the powerful narratives being used in the courts that minimise the existence and significance of family violence in intimate relationships. We see this particularly in judicial sentencing remarks. However, law reform must be accompanied by a shift in legal culture to be effective in practice. To this end, we argue that legal professionals need to have information about how to utilise the new family violence provisions as well as ongoing training and professional development to promote consistent understandings of family violence across the criminal justice system.

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Judge-Made Law: The 'Menhennit Ruling' And Abortion Law Reform In Victoria

Women's right to access abortion has historically been seen as controversial by lawmakers, secula... more Women's right to access abortion has historically been seen as controversial by lawmakers, secular and religious. Th is article examines the sources of change in Victoria's abortion laws, and in particular the role of judicial law making. The late 1960s was a time of challenges to class, gender and political inequalities, locally and internationally. In Victoria during this period, with politicians unwilling to introduce abortion law reforms despite substantial community support, a conventional—even conservative— judicial ruling in 1969 changed the law in Victoria at one stroke and provided a model of legal access to abortion for other jurisdictions for the next 40 years. The article examines the context for, and consequences of, the decision of Mr Justice Menhennit in R v Davidson, the 'Menhennit ruling'.

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Flynn, A., Hodgson, J., McCulloch, J. & Naylor, B (2016) 'Legal Aid and Access to Legal Representation: Redefining the Right to a Fair Trial', Melbourne University Law Review, vol 40(1) , pp. 207-239.

by Asher Flynn, Bronwyn Naylor, Jude McCulloch, and Jacqueline Hodgson

The unmet demand for legal aid generally and for criminal law matters in particular, has grown in... more The unmet demand for legal aid generally and for criminal law matters in particular, has grown in tandem with the expansion of crime control and increased restrictions on funding for publicly funded welfare and support services. This article examines the connection between legal aid, legal representation and the right to a fair trial. It presents an in-depth case study of Victorian case law and policy development to illuminate dilemmas in the prioritised allocation of legal aid resources in serious criminal trials. It then compares the Victorian courts' approach to a fair trial with the tenets of current European Court of Human Rights jurisprudence regarding the scope and timing of an accused person's right to access a lawyer. The comparison underlines the narrow definition of fair trial under Victorian common law, relative to Europe, where a fair trial is interpreted more broadly to include the right to legal representation during police and pre-trial investigations. The article questions whether international developments in access to legal aid for criminal trials and the extension of legal aid and representation to pre-trial procedures, most notably through the Salduz case (heard in the European Court of Human Rights), may inspire change in Victoria.

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Bronwyn Naylor

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