Victorian Numbered Acts Victorian Numbered ActsAfter section 4R of the Principal Act insert —
(1) An Assessment and Referral Court List is established.
(2) Subject to subsection (3), the Assessment and Referral Court List consists of any criminal proceeding referred to that List by the Court.
(3) The Court must not refer a criminal proceeding to the Assessment and Referral Court List unless—
(a) the proceeding relates, wholly or partly, to a charge for an offence which does not involve—
(i) a serious violence offence as defined in section 6B(1) of the Sentencing Act 1991 ; or
(ii) a violent offence as defined in section 6B(1) of that Act; or
(iii) a sexual offence as defined in section 6B(1) of that Act; and
(b) the accused meets the eligibility criteria specified in section 4T; and
(c) the accused consents to the proceeding being dealt with in the Assessment and Referral Court List; and
(d) the proceeding is at a venue of the Court where the Assessment and Referral Court List operates; and
(e) it appears to the Court that, in all the circumstances, it is appropriate for the proceeding to be dealt with in the Assessment and Referral Court List.
(4) Despite anything to the contrary in this Act,
the Assessment and Referral Court List may only sit and act at a venue of the
Court specified by the Chief Magistrate by notice published in the Government
Gazette.
s. 5
(5) The operation and administration of the Assessment and Referral Court List is at the direction of the Chief Magistrate.
(6) The Chief Magistrate, under section 16A, may issue practice directions, statements or notes for the Court in relation to the Assessment and Referral Court List.
(7) Nothing in this section takes away from, or limits, a discretion or power conferred on the Chief Magistrate by or under this Act.
(8) Nothing in this section or sections 4T to 4Y affects the operation or application of the Crimes (Mental Impairment and Unfitness to be Tried) Act 1997 .
(1) To be eligible for a criminal proceeding to enter the Assessment and Referral Court List, an accused must meet—
(a) the diagnostic criteria; and
(b) the functional criteria; and
(c) the needs criteria.
(2) The diagnostic criteria are that the accused has one or more of the following—
(a) a mental illness;
(b) an intellectual disability;
(c) an acquired brain injury;
(d) autism spectrum disorder;
(e) a neurological impairment, including, but not limited to dementia.
(3) The functional criteria are that the accused has one or more of the diagnostic criteria which causes a substantially reduced capacity in at least one of the following areas—
(a) self-care;
(b) self-management;
(c) social interaction;
(d) communication.
(4) The needs criteria are that the accused would derive benefit from receiving coordinated services in accordance with an individual support plan that may include one or more of the following—
(a) psychological assessment;
(b) welfare services;
(c) health services;
(d) mental health services;
(e) disability services;
(f) drug treatment services or alcohol treatment services;
(g) housing and support services;
(h) other services that aim to reduce the risk of offending or re-offending.
(1) The Assessment and Referral Court List has the powers of the Court necessary to enable it to exercise its jurisdiction.
(2) Without limiting subsection (1), the Court may—
(a) at any time, convene a hearing to receive reports on an accused's progress and compliance with his or her individual support plan;
(b) adjust, amend or vary any individual support plan of an accused;
(c) at any time, remove a criminal proceeding from the Assessment and Referral Court List;
(d) at any time discharge an accused or indicate an intention to discharge the accused.
(3) In hearing any proceeding in the Assessment and Referral Court List, the Court must exercise its jurisdiction with as little formality and technicality, and with as much expedition, as the requirements of this Act and the Sentencing Act 1991 and the proper consideration of the matters before the Court permit.
(1) The Court, at any time before taking a formal plea from the accused in a criminal proceeding which has been referred to the Assessment and Referral Court List, may adjourn a proceeding in that List for the purposes of a clinical assessment of the accused to—
(a) identify the accused's needs based on the needs criteria set out in section 4T; and
(b) prepare an individual support plan for the accused.
(2) The Court must fix a return date for consideration by the Court of the proposed individual support plan.
(3) On the return date, the Court may—
(a) approve the individual support plan, with or without amendments;
(b) fix bail conditions or any undertakings or other conditions the Court considers appropriate;
(c) make any other order the Court thinks fit.
(4) The Court may adjourn a proceeding under this section for a period not exceeding 12 months to enable the accused to be assessed and participate in and complete his or her individual support plan.
Nothing in section 4V limits the operation of section 59 or section 331 of the Criminal Procedure Act 2009 in relation to any criminal proceeding.
(1) Subject to and in accordance with this Act and the rules—
(a) a proceeding may be transferred to the Assessment and Referral Court List, whether sitting at the same or a different venue; and
(b) the Court may transfer a proceeding in the Assessment and Referral Court List out of that List and back to the Court for hearing at the same or a different venue.
(2) Despite subsection (1), a proceeding in the Assessment and Referral Court List must be transferred out of the List to a contested hearing in the Court if at any stage the accused—
(a) pleads not guilty; or
(b) indicates an intention to plead not guilty.
(3) Despite anything to the contrary in this Act, if a proceeding is transferred from one venue of the Court to another, the transferee venue is the proper venue of the Court for the purposes of this Act.
(4) This section does not limit—
(a) any other power conferred on the Court by or under this or any other Act; or
(b) any other specific provision made by or under this or any other Act for the making of any report, statement or submission, or the giving of any evidence, to the Court for the purpose of assisting it in hearing any criminal proceeding or determining sentence.
(1) On completion of an individual support plan by an accused to the satisfaction of the Court, the Court must hear and determine the criminal proceeding to which the individual support plan related.
(2) If an accused completes, or participates in, an individual support plan to the satisfaction of the Court, the Court may discharge the accused without any finding of guilt.
(3) The fact of participation in the individual support plan is not to be treated as a finding of guilt.
(4) If the accused is discharged by the Court, the fact of participation in, or completion of, the individual support plan and the discharge of the accused is a defence to a later charge for the same offence or a similar offence arising out of the same circumstances.
(5) If an accused participates in an individual support plan to the satisfaction of the Court and the accused is subsequently found guilty of the charge, the Court must take into account the extent to which the accused participated in the individual support plan when sentencing the accused.
(6) If an accused fails to participate in an individual support plan to the satisfaction of the Court and the accused is subsequently found guilty of the charge, the Court must not take into account the accused's failure to participate in the individual support plan when sentencing the accused.
(7) Nothing in this section affects the requirement to observe the rules of natural justice.
(8) This section does not affect the incurring of demerit points under the Road Safety Act 1986 or regulations made under that Act.
(9) Nothing in this section affects or limits the operation of the Sentencing Act 1991 or the powers of a magistrate or the Court under that Act.".