Children's Court of Queensland

The Children's Court of Queensland is a specialized court in Queensland, a state of Australia which deals with serious crimes committed by children under the age of seventeen years in the state.[1] The court should not be confused with the Children's Court which is a magistrates court in the state.

Contents

Establishment

The court is established under the Children's Court Act 1992 (Qld).[2] The court is a court of record[2] and is an inferior court. The court came into existence in 1992.

President

The Governor of Queensland may appoint a president of the court. The president must be a children's court judge.[3] The major functions of the president are to oversee the court and ensure that its work is carried out quickly and effectively.

There is no deputy president of the court. However, the governor may appoint an acting president to act in the president's absence.

The current president is Judge Julie Maree Dick SC who was appointed at the beginning of 2007.

Former Presidents have been:

Other members of the Court

The governor may appoint a judge of the District Court of Queensland as a children's court judge. Judges are appointed based on their experience and interest in dealing with the children's court jurisdiction.[4]

The governor may also appoint other district court judges to act as children's court judges.[5]

The governor may appoint a stipendiary magistrate as a Children's Court magistrate.[6] The governor may also appoint other stipendiary magistrates as acting children's court magistrates.[7]

The following are appointed as Children's Court judges:

Constitution of the court

The court is constituted by either a single judge or a single magistrate depending on the nature of the crime allegedly committed. In most cases, the matters will be dealt with by either a children's court judge or children's court magistrate. However, if one is not available, then a district court judge or a stipendiary magistrate may deal with the case even though they have not been appointed by the governor.

Jurisdiction of Magistrates

A Children's Court magistrate has jurisdiction:

A Children's Court magistrate also has powers to hear Child Protection matters pursuant to the Child Protection Act 1999.

Who may attend

Generally children's court cases are held in a closed court, although criminal offences dealt with by indictment are held in open court. This is against the usual principle that all common law courts are open to public, and reflects that children are being dealt with inside the court. Cases are held at different times to any other case being heard by the court on the day.

At a hearing, the following people may attend

Caseload

The Children's Court of Queensland as a whole (including Judges and Magistrates) dealt with 5,431 juveniles in 2005–06 compared with 6,996 in 2004-2005. This represents a 22.4% decrease in the number of defendants.

There was a 9.8% decrease in the number of juveniles appearing before a Children's Court Judge. Furthermore, there was an overall decrease of 29.3% in the number of charges brought against juveniles in Queensland in 2005-2006, at 1,771, down from 16,656 in the previous year.

According to its Annual Review, unlawful entry with intent and theft (and related offences) accounted for 44.1% of all charges.

Children's Court Magistrates disposed of 93% of juvenile cases in 2005-2006.

References

  1. ^ JUVENILE JUSTICE ACT 1992 - SECT 6 4 Child's Age Regulation
  2. ^ a b CHILDRENS [sic] COURT ACT 1992 - SECT 4 4 Childrens [sic] Court established etc
  3. ^ CHILDRENS [sic] COURT ACT 1992 - SECT 9 9 Childrens [sic] Court president
  4. ^ CHILDRENS [sic] COURT ACT 1992 - SECT 11 11 Childrens [sic] Court judge
  5. ^ CHILDRENS [sic] COURT ACT 1992 - SECT 12 12 Acting judge
  6. ^ CHILDRENS [sic] COURT ACT 1992 - SECT 14 14 Childrens [sic] Court magistrates
  7. ^ CHILDRENS [sic] COURT ACT 1992 - SECT 15 15 Termination of office

Sources

Executive
Legislative
Judicial