Community attitudes to defences and sentences in cases of homicide and assault in Queensland

Abstract

When is it ok to defend yourself using violence? Is it ok to respond violently when provoked? We asked leading academics from the Australian National University to conduct an independent study to help us understand community attitudes. They surveyed 2500 Queenslanders and held focus groups with 58 members of the Queensland community.

The Commission encourages everyone with an interest in the criminal laws of Queensland to consider the findings from this research which paints a rich picture of contemporary attitudes with respect to criminal culpability, domestic and family violence, and the appropriateness of the mandatory sentence of life for murder. This is an important piece of research which the Commission hopes will contribute to research and policy development beyond the work of the Commission in this specific review of particular criminal defences.

This report has been prepared for the Queensland Law Reform Commission by a team of researchers led by Dr Hayley Boxall, a Research Fellow at the Australian National University’s Centre for Social Policy Research. The research team has been supported by the Social Research Centre which conducted the quantitative component of the project. The Commission is grateful for the excellent work that the research team undertook on behalf of the Commission as reflected in this report.