Crime And Justice Videos
newest 100 crime and justice videos / crime and justice widgets / media rss:

Inside the minds of murderers and sex offenders Meet NZ clinical psychologist Nigel Latta. He spends his days working with murderers and paedophiles.

A controversial bill decriminalising abortion in Victoria is looking shaky, after the Catholic Church ramped up pressure on state upper house MP's, who'll vote on it this week. The bill, which passed through Victoria's lower house last month, seeks to legalise abortion up to 24 weeks gestation and removes it from the state's Crimes Act. It also requires those with a conscientious objection to abortion to refer the patient to another doctor, who doesn't have similar objections. The Catholic Church says that clause of the bill is a "strident challenge" to many people's fundamental beliefs. If the bill is passed, the Church says it will consider withdrawing Catholic hospital services in the state.

It's been a harrowing day for the family of Britt Lapthorne after body parts were found off the coast of the Croatian city of Dubrovnik, 18 days after the Melbourne backpacker went missing. But police and her family say the remains are not likely to be hers. Britt's father has met the Australian Federal Police officer who was sent to help in what has seemed a largely bungled investigation.

How does conscience voting work and, if your local member is not voting along party lines, should you have been told about the possibility of this happening when they stood for election?

It's more than 10 years since the law reform and human rights commissions released Seen and Heard, its landmark report into children and the law. In the decade since, there have been some improvements and some recommendations adopted but, in many areas, we've gone backwards.

The NRL rugby league grand final is on this Sunday. It's Melbourne vs Manly, a repeat of last year's clash. But the real stoush may be played out in the court room, not on the pitch. The club is in strife over comments by the coach that his star player wouldn't get a fair hearing before the NRL judiciary. Yesterday members of the judiciary said they would take legal action as a result. Storm coach, Craig Bellamy has so far refused to apologise for his comments, saying his team is focussed on Sunday's Premiership decider and isn't worried about being underdogs.

With the world's focus on the nuclear threat posed by North Korea, scant attention has been paid to the country's humanitarian crisis. Former prime minister of Norway Kjell Bondevik, former Czech president Vaclav Havel and Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel first called attention to the humanitarian crisis two years ago when they commissioned an account of the humanitarian and human rights situation in North Korea. Since then, neglect and disregard by the North Korean ruling party has conspired to make the humanitarian situation even more dire for North Koreans.

Police raids on journalists Last week the police raided the home of a well connected Canberra Times journalist. A contact gave the journo official briefings about how Australia spies on its Asian friends -- and the authorities want to track down the leak. Is a raid a legitimate investigation tool? Or an attempt to gag a free and fearless media? The psychology of conmen How do conmen convince you to part with your money? Who are they? And how do they choose their victims? Learn their secrets from someone who has studied their dark arts. Magician Nick Johnson has some interesting insights into psychology of scams...and some suggestions on how to stop your money from going up in smoke!

If a person commits a crime they need to their time. Simply really. Or is it? Are there other mitigating circumstances like the kind of society in which we live and the kind of democracy we follow.

Most people rate noise as a bigger problem than rats, drugs, or dog poo. It's highest on the list of citizen complaints, but it's listed low by councils and politicians. But noise can have cultural value too. Hagar Cohen reports.

Why did Martin Bryant go on a shooting rampage? Why did Kathleen Folbigg kill her children? If we inderstand the reasons why they did these thinsg will that help us prevent anyone else from doing the same?

A masked student went on the rampage at a Finnish school, methodically gunning down 10 people before turning the weapon on himself. This was the day after police had quizzed him over a chilling YouTube video showing him firing a gun. The massacre is Finland's deadliest school shooting and the second in under a year.

The Benbrika Terror Trial Australia's biggest ever terror trial -- the police investigation collected thousands of hours of video and audio evidence.

Disability and equality In Britain, anti-discrimination legislation has improved the equality of disabled people over the last decade, but advocates argue that equal rights to education, employment and services are still being undermined. Qui Tam: paying whistleblowers? Qui Tam -- it's a term that you're probably not familiar with but, in legal circles in the United States, it's very well-known. Survival: Melissa Lucashenko If you were told you were a `great survivor´, would you see that as a compliment? But what if you told someone you were `just surviving´? That´s something different. Meet the listener:Jamahl Pollard, visual artist Meet the listener guest Jamahl Pollard is a visual artist born with a degenerative eye disease. He has only very limited vision in one eye and the other is artificial.

There can be few crimes harder for parents to deal with than child abduction. Frequently we hear news reports about someone being stalked or an attempted abduction and, occasionally, a child goes missing. The parents of missing Sunshine Coast teenager Daniel Morcombe want Australian schools to raise child safety awareness issues with their students. They want Australian schools to feature an awareness campaign around the slogan 'Day for Daniel' on October 31st each year. 13-year-old Daniel was abducted in December 2003 while waiting for a bus near his home at Palmwoods in Queensland. His father, Bruce Morcombe, has been discussing the idea with South Australian authorities and goes today to Perth to do the same in Western Australia.

On death row with Luke Davies What do the condemned think about while they're on death row? This is one of the questions Luke Davies wanted to ask when he spent time with two men on death row at Bali's Kerobokan Prison, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran. They are 2 of the 'Bali 9' who were arrested in 2005 and charged with drug trafficking. They have one more legal option to have their sentences reduced and their case is currently before the Supreme Court. Luke has made his name as a novelist, poet and screen-writer. This is his first foray into journalism. The extraordinary lives of spiders: Bert Brunet Did you know that scientists are putting spider DNA into Nigerian goats, that little Miss Muffett's father wrote the first English language book about spiders, or that spider silk is the strongest fabric on earth, the closest other fabric being Kevlite which is used to make bullet proof vests? Spiders have been around for 400 million years and they are miracles of survival and adaptation. They also do everything we do to attract lovers and repel enemies: they dance, dress up and play music by plucking on their webs.

This week The Philosopher´s Zone looks at what happens when lawyers know more than they are able to tell. What should you do when ethical duty collides with personal morality? We´ll take an infamous American murder trial from the 1970s as our case study

What is the connection between animal cruelty and interpersonal violence? Does one necessarily lead to the other?

Interpreters in the courtroom We look at the role of interpreters in the courtroom. If they get it wrong the consequences can be enormous. An innocent accused might be found guilty, or a criminal might escape conviction.

Private military contractors In Iraq there are literally thousands of armed ex-soldiers -- guarding officials and diplomats, escorting truck convoys and patrolling all manner of installations and bases.

A jury in Britain has found three men guilty of a conspiracy to murder using liquid bombs, in a case that led to sweeping airport restrictions on travelling with liquids. But the jury in this high profile anti-terrorism case didn't accept the prosecution's argument that the men planned to bring down aircraft across the Atlantic.

NSW is creating more space in jails for a growing number of young people. But many of them are only there waiting to go to trial. They may be there for something minor, or may even be innocent. Reporter, Erica Vowles.

True Crime

The Wei Tang decision Slavery in 21st century Australia: the High Court hands down its decision in the Wei Tang case. The Paul Imbree decision The Imbree decision gives confidence to parents teaching their kids how to drive in those parts of Australia which do not have a no-fault motor accident compensation system. From now on, if there´s an accident they won´t be left holding the can!

The hunt for whales is all about science and has nothing to do with delivering whale meat for the Japanese. That's the official version put forward by the Japanese government to justify its controversial, so-called scientific, whaling program. Now Japan has released its scientific findings, which have concluded that whales are losing blubber because ocean resources are growing scarce. The study, led by Kenji Konishi of Japan's government-backed Institute of Cetacean Research, was published in the journal Polar Biology overnight. The study is based on more than 6,000 dead whales.

The Racket: Gideon Haigh In his latest book The Racket, writer Gideon Haigh examines the legal history of abortion and how the lack of legislation led to a flourishing, often corrupted trade over many years. Animal welfare and consumers We feel passionately about our pets and baby whales but does that passion extend to the animals we eat? Robin Barker: Baby Matters 3: breastfeeding grief and infant formula Part 3 of our Baby Matters series with Robin Barker.

The lawyers for Indian doctor Mohamed Haneef have called for the Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty to be sacked, after the AFP released a statement to say Dr Haneef was no longer a person of interest. The statement was released on the eve of an appearance by former federal attorney-general Philip Ruddock at the Clarke Inquiry into last year's arrest and detention of Dr Haneef.

The former Federal Court judge Robert French will be sworn in as the next Chief Justice of the High Court in Canberra today. He is replacing outgoing Chief Justice Murray Gleeson, who retired on Friday.

Adoptions from India and child trafficking Indian authorities are investigating the abduction and sale of children who have subsequently been legally adopted internationally. Overdose awareness day This Sunday marks Overdose Awareness Day around Australia. Candice's story The story of Candice, a young mother of three who´s addiction nightmare culminated in a methamphetamine induced psychosis, with her three young children in the car. Blogdaddy part 2 How does a bloke who´s 30, single and wanting kids go about turning from a man-child into dad-guy?

The international condemnation over Russia's recognition of Georgia's breakaway provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia has intensified. The G7 denounced the move by questioning Russia's commitment to peace, while Britain's Foreign Secretary David Miliband has called on the EU and NATO to initiate a quote "hard-headed engagement" with Moscow. Mr Miliband made the comments in Ukraine amid fears the country could be next on Russia's hit list.