The ''Crimes Act'' 1900. is a New South Wales statute that sets out the majority of criminal offences for the state of New South Wales in Australia. It, the Commonwealth

Crimes Act 1914 The ''Crimes Act 1914'' (Cth) is an Act of the Parliament of Australia which addresses the most serious federal offences — that is, crimes against the Commonwealth. It was the first major federal criminal law since the Federation of Austral ...

. and the Commonwealth

Criminal Code Act 1995 The criminal law of Australia is the body of law in Australia that relates to crime. Responsibility for criminal law in Australia is divided between the state and territory parliaments and the Commonwealth Parliament. This division is due to ...

form the majority of criminal law for New South Wales. As it is the major criminal law statute for New South Wales, it is an extensive legal document which defines an extensive list of offences under New South Wales law. The same original NSW act forms the basis for the ''Crimes Act'' ''1900'' (ACT) which has 444 different sections as of 1 September 2016..

Murder law

For a person to be guilty of murder in NSW, the prosecution must prove both ''

actus reus (), sometimes called the external element or the objective element of a crime, is the Law Latin term for the "guilty act" which, when proved beyond a reasonable doubt in combination with the ("guilty mind"), produces criminal liability in th ...

'' (literally guilty act) and '' mens rea'' (literally guilty mind). Murder and manslaughter defined. The act must cause the death of a person without lawful excuse - A causes B's death. It was previously a requirement that death occur within a year and a day after the date on which the person received the injury, however that has been abolished in NSW. Date of death. The guilty mind may be one of three different states of mind: an intent to kill, an intent to commit grievous bodily harm, or reckless indifference to human life. If A intended to kill B, whether it was premeditated or on the spur of the moment, A is guilty of murder. Similarly if A intended to kill B but instead killed C, A is guilty of murder. The culpability of the person does not depend on whether the person intended to kill, or was recklessly indifferent. Under NSW law, a person is also guilty of murder if the act causing death was done with the intent to cause grievous bodily harm. Grievous bodily harm includes any permanent or serious disfiguring, death of a fetus, or causing a person to contract a grievous bodily disease. Definitions. If A intentionally inflicts grievous bodily harm on B and B dies, then A is guilty of B's murder. The more difficult concept for culpability is "reckless indifference to human life". The accused must be aware of the probability (as opposed to possibility),. that the accused's act would result in a person's death (as opposed to merely resulting in grievous bodily harm)... That is A saw that his actions carried a probability of B's death. Douglas Crabbe was convicted of murder when he drove a truck into a pub in which he knew it was highly likely that people would be killed. In ''R v Faure'' the Victorian Court of Appeal described "probable" as meaning "a substantial, or real and not remote, chance, whether or not it is more than 50 per cent".. Similarly, it was held in ''Darkan v R'', that "probable must be distinguished from merely possible".. As long as one of these above mental states is present, and given that the test of causation is satisfied, the intended method of death becomes irrelevant. For example, in ''Royall v R'', the High Court upheld a murder conviction obtained when a woman died from jumping out of a window to avoid an attempt from her partner to inflict grievous bodily harm upon her. The court ruled "It is immaterial that the death was caused in a way which the applicant did not precisely foresee." The final level is constructive murder (also termed

felony murder The rule of felony murder is a legal doctrine in some common law jurisdictions that broadens the crime of murder: when someone is killed (regardless of intent to kill) in the commission of a dangerous or enumerated crime (called a felony in so ...

) in which A kills B (even if unintentionally - the only question that can be raised is whether the act was voluntary or not). during or immediately after the commission of a crime, or during an attempt to commit a crime. The crime that qualifies the murder as 'constructive murder' must be a crime that is punishable by imprisonment for either 25 years or life. The maximum penalty for murder is life imprisonment. The Court will use discretion in determining the sentence and will only impose life imprisonment if "the level of culpability in the commission of the offence is so extreme" and it is in the interest of “retribution, punishment, community protection and deterrence”. Mandatory life sentences for certain offences. Life imprisonment means imprisonment for “natural life”. Punishment for murder. Section 19B mandates a sentence of life imprisonment (subject to some exceptions) if the victim is a police officer killed in the execution of his or her duty, or in retaliation for past execution of duty, and the accused knew, or ought reasonably to have known, the victim was a police officer and intended to kill the police officer. Mandatory life sentences for murder of police officers.

Manslaughter law

Where the prosecution cannot establish the necessary ''actus reus'' and ''mens rea'' elements of murder beyond reasonable doubt, the accused may be convicted of manslaughter.

Manslaughter Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th c ...

carries a maximum sentence of 25 years imprisonment. Manslaughter--punishment.

Publicly threatening and inciting violence law

In June 2018, both houses of the

Parliament of New South Wales The Parliament of New South Wales is a bicameral legislature in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW), consisting of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly (lower house) and the New South Wales Legislative Council (upper house). Eac ...

unanimously passed and the

Governor of New South Wales The governor of New South Wales is the viceregal representative of the Australian monarch, King Charles III, in the state of New South Wales. In an analogous way to the governor-general of Australia at the national level, the governors of the ...

signed an urgent bill without amendments called the ''Crimes Amendment (Publicly Threatening and Inciting Violence) Bill 2018'' to repeal the vilification laws within the

Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 The New South Wales Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 is an Act of the NSW Parliament, relating to discrimination in employment, the public education system, delivery of goods and services, and other services such as banking, health care, property a ...

and replace it with

criminal In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Ca ...

legislation with up to an explicit 3-year term of imprisonment within this Act. The legislation went into effect on August 13, 2018 - by proclamation on August 10, 2018.

Other provisions

Division 3 of the Act covers attempts to murder, Acts done to the person with intent to murder. while Division 5 relates to attempting or aiding suicide. Suicide and attempt to commit suicide; and Aiding etc suicide. Punishment for crimes deemed as 'common assault' is set out in Division 9. Common assault prosecuted by indictment. Aggravated assault includes assault with further specific intent, Assault with intent to commit a serious indictable offence on certain officers. assault causing particular injuries (actual bodily harm, Assault occasioning actual bodily harm. and grievous bodily harm, Causing grievous bodily harm. assault with offensive weapons or dangerous substances ("offensive weapon or instrument" is defined in s 4 of the Crimes Act) and assaults on victims of special status, such as: * a child at the time of birth; Injuries to child at time of birth. * a child under the age of 7; Abandoning or exposing a child under 7 years. * wives, apprentices, servants and insane people; Failure of persons to provide necessities of life. * clergy engaged in their duties; Obstructing member of the clergy in discharge of his or her duties. * persons endeavouring to preserve a vessel in distress; Assault on persons preserving wreck. * a member of the crew of an aircraft or vessel whilst on board. Assault etc on member of crew of aircraft or vessel. After the

death of Thomas Kelly Thomas Andreae Kelly (January 6, 1994 – July 9, 2012) was an eighteen-year-old male from Sydney, Australia, who was the victim of a random one-punch assault as he walked down Victoria Street in Kings Cross, on July 7, 2012. Kelly was taken t ...

in 2012, NSW Parliament introduced the "one-punch-law". This law mandates a minimum sentence of 8 years to the maximum sentence of 25 years for assault causing death in intoxicated (alcohol/drug) conditions. and maximum sentence of 20 years for assault causing death without intoxicated conditions. There is also no requirement to prove the assailant knew the punch would be fatal. Assault causing death. The criminal offence of sexual assault is located in Division 10, which includes the definition of "sexual intercourse"; Definition of "sexual intercourse" and other terms. consent in relation to sexual assault offences; Consent in relation to sexual assault offences. the elements of the offence of sexual assault; Sexual assault. aggravated sexual assault; Aggravated sexual assault. aggravated sexual assault in company; Aggravated sexual assault in company. and assault with intent to have intercourse; Assault with intent to have sexual intercourse.

Zoe's Law

In November 2021, "Zoe's Law" was passed within NSW under the Crimes Act 1900. In 2019, all abortion offences were repealed from the Crimes Act 1900 - but when a fetus is lost as a result of a wide range of criminal acts (such as dangerous driving or grievous bodily harm).

References