This program provides a timely review of the current law to ensure that you are up to date with all the essential sentencing procedures and processes which are crucial for the criminal Lawyer. You will gain all the necessary knowledge sentencing in relation to court ordered reports, post sentencing consequences, discharge without conviction, coercive control and entrapment, and the recent cases on methamphetamine sentencing and personal mitigating factors.
10.00am to 11.00am Discharge without Conviction: A Modern Approach
- Examine the modern approach taken by the Appellant Courts to things like “gravity of the offending” and “real and appreciable risks” in relation to the circumstances of the offence and consequences of the conviction
- What evidence is really required as a gold standard for our Clients in applying for a Section 106?
- Analyse case examples to help you get a feel for what type of offending might allow a successful application
- Become more strategic when advising your client and get them in the strongest position they can be for an application for a discharge without conviction
Presented by Jacinda Younger, Barrister and Solicitor, Square Legal Chambers
9.00am to 10.00am A Guide to Sentencing
- The orthodox approach
- A more modern/case sensitive approach
- Court ordered reports: how to incorporate and rely on
- Section 27
- Section 38
- Restorative justice
- PAC
- A & D
- Post sentencing consequences to be aware of
- Disqualification
- Registration
- Parole Board – if sentence over 2 years
Presented by Rosalind Brown, Barrister
11.15am to 12.15pm Coercive Control and Entrapment as Mitigation: Sentencing Decisions
- What is social entrapment
- Review of cases where coercion or social entrapment has been used in mitigation
- Discussion of expert reports on this topic and how to present them to the Court
Presented by Annabel Cresswell, Barrister, Pohutukawa Chambers
Chair:
Janine Bonifant, Barrister, Aurora Chambers
12.15pm to 1.15pm Recent Supreme Court Developments Regarding Methamphetamine Sentencing and Personal Mitigating Factors
- Berkland v R and Harding v R [2022] NZSC 143:
- Adjustments to “significant role” indicia in Zhang
- Approach to quantity in setting starting point in manufacturing cases
- “Causative contribution” as the standard for personal mitigating factors
- Approach to discounts for deprivation, historical dispossession and addiction
- Guidance on s 27 – formal reports and other sources of cultural background information
- Philip v R [2022] NZSC 149:
- Availability of starting points below the Zhang bands
- Approach to Solicitor-General appeals where non-custodial sentence imposed
- Discounts to recognise impact of incarceration on a defendant’s young child
Presented by Jacinda Younger, Barrister and Solicitor, Square Legal Chambers
Description
Attend and earn 4 CPD hours
11.00am to 11.15am Morning Tea
Learning Objectives:
- Reflect on recent case examples that will allow for a successful application
- Give best practice advice to their clients when dealing with post sentencing consequences
- Gain perspective on coercive control and entrapment as mitigation
- Examine recent Supreme Court developments regarding methamphetamine sentencing and personal mitigating factors
Presenters
Ms. Annabel Cresswell, Barrister, Pohutukawa Chambers
Annabel is a Criminal Barrister and specialises in conducting jury trials in the Criminal Courts. Annabel was admitted to the bar in December 2000. She has previously worked for the Crown and the Public Defence Service. In 2022, She and two colleagues set up Pohutukawa Chambers in central Auckland, where she currently practices. Annabel also practices in Rotorua and mainly focuses on serious crime. Annabel is the Vice President of the Criminal Bar Association.
Ms. Rosalind Brown, Barrister
Ros was admitted to the bar in 2007 and began practice in a small boutique litigation firm in Wellington. Criminal law was always her primary interest, and in 2009 she moved to the Public Defence Service in Manukau, where she remained until 2021, when she transferred to Hamilton. Ros went out as an independent barrister in 2021, joining Knox Street Legal Chambers. While at PDS, Ros was involved in preparing and running training sessions and the Introduction to Criminal Law course. Her primary focus is getting the best outcomes for her clients through the criminal justice process and as such, working towards a productive sentencing and end goal is key.
Ms. Jacinda Younger, Barrister and Solicitor, Square Legal Chambers
Jacinda has been in practice since 1998, initially in general practice before specialising in criminal law as a barrister in 2001. Her practice began in Whanganui, then adding an office in Palmerston North where she stayed after the legal aid changes a decade ago. She is a PAL4 qualified legal aid provider and regularly appears in jury trial and appellant matters. Her favourite aspect of criminal law is section 106 discharge without convictions, which she has specialised her private practice in for the last 10years, not having one declined in that period. Her most striking case in section 106 is successfully gaining a discharge without conviction for two young offenders facing an aggravated burglary charge in 2019. Jacinda considers her strength as being a strategic thinker and that this probably developed over the last 25 years juggling a law practice, training her dressage stallion from a foal to Grand Prix (Olympic level) dressage (also a NZ first), running a busy horse stud and raising two girls who she also trains in dressage and who are national dressage champions in their own right now. “If you don’t think forward in problem solving, then the house of cards falls down pretty quickly!”
Ms. Janine Bonifant, Barrister, Aurora Chambers
Janine Bonifant has had over 30 years’ experience as a litigator with a focus on criminal law. She has prosecuted and defended many trials in the District and High Courts. Janine currently practices as barrister in Wellington. Janine is a Youth Advocate in Porirua and Wellington. In addition to criminal defence work, Janine has been a faculty member on the NZLS Litigation Skills Programme since 2006 and was Director in 2013 and 2017. She is currently an instructor for the Institute of Professional Legal Studies. Janine is also an author for Lexis Nexis.
