Victorian Numbered Acts

CRIMINAL PROCEDURE AMENDMENT ACT 2012 (NO. 48 OF 2012) - SECT 1

The main purposes of this Act are—

        (a)     to amend the Criminal Procedure Act 2009 —

              (i)     to further provide for leave to appeal against sentence;

              (ii)     to expand the use of recorded evidence-in-chief;

              (iii)     to allow special hearings to be held during criminal trials;

              (iv)     to clarify the circumstances in which a judge may comment on a departure from the disclosed evidence or a failure of an accused to adduce particular evidence in the course of a trial;

              (v)     to rationalise, and add to, the list of persons and classes of persons authorised to witness statements for use in full briefs, preliminary briefs and hand-up briefs;

        (b)     to amend the Children, Youth and Families Act 2005     in relation to appeals from the County Court or the Trial Division of the Supreme Court to the Court of Appeal if a question of law is reserved;

        (c)     to amend the Magistrates' Court Act 1989 and the Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Act 1981 to remove the requirement that articles or things seized under a search warrant be brought before the court to be dealt with according to law;

        (d)     to amend the Sentencing Act 1991 —

              (i)     in relation to the imposition of aggregate sentences by a court;

              (ii)     in relation to the recording of the reduction of sentences for guilty pleas;

        (e)     to make a minor amendment to the Crimes Act 1958 .