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Skye's Law is an informal name for the Crimes Amendment (Police Pursuits) Act 2010 of
New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...
, Australia. It is named after the 19-month old toddler Skye Sassine, who was killed on 31 December 2009 when her family's car was hit by a driver suspected of armed robbery who was trying to evade police. The driver in that case was convicted of her
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 ...
, but Skye's Law makes evading a police pursuit a specific offence in itself, with prison terms of up to three years, or up to five years for repeat offences. There was also criticism of the role of Police in pursuit. Deputy Coroner, Magistrate Paul MacMahon, was quoted as saying, "The evidence shows that Senior Constable roySkinner in firstly undertaking urgent duty and subsequently engaging in the pursuit on 31 December 2009, did so in utter disregard for the requirements imposed on him by the afe driving policy. The offence is committed if the driver is aware of the pursuit, fails to stop and then drives recklessly or dangerously. The law takes the form of a new section 51B inserted into the
Crimes Act 1900 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. and the Commonwealth Criminal Code Act 1995 form the maj ...
by the 2010 Act. The law was first used within a few weeks of being passed. Between May 2010 and March 2012, 445 people were convicted under Skye's Law, 180 of whom were imprisoned. In 2012,
Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to ...
also introduced a range of offences relating to police pursuit attracting sentences of imprisonment, in the Road Traffic (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act 2012.


References

{{Reflist New South Wales legislation Traffic law 2010 in Australian law 2010 in New South Wales