The safety of taxis and the media beat-up

The Director of Public Transport has recently had his latest loss in the long-running battle to stop the anonymised XFJ from obtaining a taxi licence. The Court of Appeal handed down its decision last week and, like the two previous decisions, found that the Director could not use concerns over public confidence as a basis for refusing a taxi licence to a person who, 18 years ago, was found not guilty of murder due to insanity. The Court of Appeal has included a good summary of the history of the matter and its decision at the start of its judgment, which substantially reduces what I need to say about the case. My interest, instead, is on the media reaction to the decision.

Children, crime and mental illness

Patrick McGorry has been in the news a lot this year since he was named Australian of the year, for his work highlighting the poor state of mental health services for children. Sadly, there is an all too common link between crime and mental illness. In its more serious forms, mental illness can rob a person of the chance to meaningfully participate in a trial. For that reason, Part 2 of the Crimes (Mental Impairment and Unfitness to be Tried) Act 1997 deals with the issue of what a court should do in that situation. Unfortunately, as CL (A minor) v Lee [2010] VSC 517 demonstrates, the law is not entirely thorough in its coverage of youth unfitness.