Julia Quilter
Biographic Data
| ID | 3648842 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Julia Quilter |
| GIVEN NAMES | Julia |
| FAMILY NAME | Quilter |
| SIGNATURE | QUILTER J |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Wollongong |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-8348-6741 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 25 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 8 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 25 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2011 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Post-sentence supervision orders in Australia
New generation post-sentence preventive detention and supervision regimes recently enacted in Australia are a hybrid of civil and penal law elements. The laws allow for the correctional supervision, in prison or the community, of certain offenders deemed serious or high-risk at completion of their sentences – what amounts to an exceptional expansion of penal power beyond conventional notions of punishment and justified in the interest of communit…
Perfecting’ the criminal law definition of sexual consent
Text messages and social media posts as evidence in rape trials
Records of mobile phone text messages and social media posts and messages have become a ubiquitous feature of the evidence that is admitted in rape trials in Australia. Messages sent by complainants – to the accused and to other people – attract particular scrutiny during cross-examination. In this article we consider whether the deployment of digital communications evidence is impeding the long-term effort to transform rape trials and decrease t…
Back Off! Stop Making US Illegal
In Australia, vagrancy and public order laws have been used to criminalise homelessness since colonisation. Such laws have never provided an effective deterrent against ‘offending’ because most crimes committed by homeless people are survival-related or otherwise associated with their homeless status. It is generally agreed that a welfare-oriented rather than a punitive approach is needed if these ‘crimes’ are to be prevented, however the perspec…
Hyper-policing the Homeless
Drawing on interviews with 164 people experiencing homelessness across Australia, this article discusses the concept of hyper-policing to account for excessive police interventions. Hyper-policing is exhibited in the sheer numbers of police apprehensions of people experiencing homelessness (quantitative aspect) and the extreme use of force (qualitative aspect). By deploying Wacquant’s (Daedalus 139(3):74–90, 2010) notion of hyper-incarceration in…
Differences in accounts and the ‘lying’ complainant
Intoxication Evidence in Rape Trials in the Country Court of Victoria
Although long associated with incidents of sexual violence, evidence of alcohol and/or other drug (‘AOD’) consumption and intoxication continues to present challenges for the enforcement of rape laws and justice for victim-survivors. This article reports on the findings of a transcript analysis of 33 Victorian rape trials involving evidence of complainant and/or defendant intoxication. Statutory provisions designed to break the culturally-assumed…
The most persistent rape myth? A qualitative study of ‘delay’ in complaint in Victorian rape trials
One of the oldest myths to confound the achievement of justice for victims of sexual violence is that ‘genuine’ rape victims complain immediately, loudly and officially. Dismantling this myth—or at least banishing it from the court room—has been a high priority of the modern era of rape/sexual assault law reform. How successful has this attempt been? This article reports on the initial findings of a transcript analysis study of more than 30 rape …
‘[I]f It’s a Public Health and Safety Thing … Why Not Just Give the Kids Helmets?’
In the early 1990s Australia became the first country in the world to introduce laws mandating the wearing of helmets by bicyclists. Road safety – particularly for child bicyclists – was the primary driver of change. This article considers the operation of the mandatory helmet law in New South Wales (‘NSW’) with the aim of assessing whether, in light of recent changes to the law and contemporary enforcement practices, its operation is consistent …
Medicinal cannabis and driving
We conclude that in medical-only access models there is little evidence to justify the differential treatment of medicinal cannabis patients, compared with those taking other prescription medications with potentially impairing effects
Policing mandatory bicycle helmet laws in NSW
Australia was the first country to introduce laws mandating the wearing of helmets by bicyclists with the aim of enhancing road safety for cyclists. Examining the law and its administration in NSW, we point to some serious problems and anomalies with the law. We argue safety concerns have been relegated and the fine for the offence has lost any sense of proportionality with offending, parity with penalties imposed in other states and with penalti…
Changing the Rules on Bail
Bail decisions are a high-volume and hugely consequential component of the Australian criminal justice system, and yet, laws governing access to bail have rarely been the subject of systematic analysis. This article sheds new light on how bail laws have changed and what this reveals about how and why governments employ the criminal law as a public policy tool. Working with a dataset of 71 statutes enacted in New South Wales, Queensland and Victor…
Getting Consent 'Right
For the purposes of rape/sexual assault, the preferred approach for pursuing modernisation in Australia has been to legislate a positive definition of consent as 'free and voluntary agreement'. The absence of consent in this form has become the primary touchstone for the crime. And yet, despite multiple waves of progressive legislative reform, too few victims of sexual violence find justice in the criminal courts. This article questions whether p…
Criminalising protest through the expansion of police ‘move-on’ powers
Understanding processes of criminalisation
Criminalisation theory scholars have examined important questions regarding what behaviours should be criminalised and why. More recently, greater attention has been paid to linking normative accounts with empirical and historicised analyses of criminalisation practices. Building on recent work on modalities of criminalisation as a methodological tool for contextual criminalisation research, this article introduces a second analytical approach fo…
The significance of ‘intoxication’ in Australian criminal law
This study explores how the state of ‘intoxication’ from the consumption of alcohol or other drugs is treated by the criminal justice system in Australia. The authors analysed more than 500 statutory provisions which attach significance to a person’s ‘intoxication’ for a variety of purposes, and 327 appellate court decisions handed down in Australia between 2010 and 2014 in which the court considered evidence that the accused, the victim or a wit…
High Court Constitutional Challenges to Criminal Law and Procedure Legislation in Australia
Scholars of criminal law and criminalisation have paid insufficient attention to the use of constitutional challenges in the courts as a strategy for influencing the nature and scope of criminal laws in Australia. This article makes a contribution to filling this gap by analysing 59 High Court of Australia decisions handed down between 1996 and 2016. Our analysis highlights the sorts of criminal laws that have been the subject of constitutional s…
Sydney's Lockout Laws
The catalyst for the Institute of Criminology's Forum on 'Sydney's Lockout Laws: Cutting Crime or Civil Liberties?' was a rising tide of concern that measures introduced by the New South Wales ('NSW') Government in 2014, primarily designed to reduce alcohol-related violence, may have misjudged the balance required to simultaneously deliver on two community expectations: that residents and visitors in places likes Kings Cross and the Sydney CBD sh…
Such Slow Murder
A review of Annie Cossins, Female Criminality: Infanticide, Moral Panics and the Female Body (Palgrave Macmillan UK, 2015
Institutional Influences on the Parameters of Criminalisation
Within criminalisation scholarship, there has been little engagement with the work of ‘real-world’ mechanisms for promoting principled law-making, like the activities of parliamentary scrutiny committees. This article reports on an examination of the New South Wales (‘NSW’) Legislation Review Committee's findings and recommendations in relation to all criminal law bills during the period 2010–12 and assesses the impact of the Committee's recommen…
Rape Trials, Medical Texts and the Threat Of Female Speech
Despite more than three decades of law reform, debate and scholarship designed to improve the legal response to rape, reporting rates remain low, attrition rates high, conviction rates low and conviction appeals in sexual assault matters have one of the highest rates of success (Kelly, Lovett & Regan 2005; Fitzgerald 2006; Daly and Bourhous 2010; Brown et al 2015). Furthermore, dissatisfaction with the criminal justice system remains a key issue …
Turning the Spotlight on ‘Offensiveness' as a Basis for Criminal Liability
Offensiveness as a basis for legal liability in Australia is not new, but it was the subject of unprecedented scrutiny in the wake of the release of the former Labor government’s Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination Bill in November 2012. But if the 2012 Bill generated such anxiety because it contemplated treating offensive comments as a form of discrimination and therefore a civil wrong, why is there not even greater anxiety about the presence o…
More Law and Order on the Run
After the July 2012 death of Thomas Kelly from a one-punch assault in Kings Cross, the NSW government engaged in a nuanced and multi-faceted response to alcohol-fuelled violence in Sydney’s major entertainment precinct. Unfortunately, the government’s latest response — the Crimes and Other Legislation Amendment (Assault and Intoxication) Act 2014 (NSW) (‘the Act’) — is deserving of no such praise. Not only is the argument that a discrete ‘one pun…
Responses to the Death of Thomas Kelly
This comment explores the range of responses to Thomas Kelly's death. Mr Kelly suffered fatal head injuries after being king-hit in the face when walking down the street in Kings Cross, Sydney, in July 2012. It is argued that these responses form a populist and far more nuanced response than the more typical ‘law and order’ reactions of state governments witnessed in the past, making us think about taking populism more seriously
Re-Framing the Rape Trial
Through a close reading of a rape trial, this article discusses the seemingly intractable problem of the disconnect between rape law reform and the resilience of outdated common law practices being used in the courtroom. It is argued that certain requirements (the location of the event; a focus on resistance and the presence of injuries; recent complaint; and the underlying assumption of the untrustworthiness of the complainant) form a 'rape sche…
Understanding processes of criminalisation
Criminalisation theory scholars have examined important questions regarding what behaviours should be criminalised and why. More recently, greater attention has been paid to linking normative accounts with empirical and historicised analyses of criminalisation practices. Building on recent work on modalities of criminalisation as a methodological tool for contextual criminalisation research, this article introduces a second analytical approach fo…
Back Off! Stop Making US Illegal
In Australia, vagrancy and public order laws have been used to criminalise homelessness since colonisation. Such laws have never provided an effective deterrent against ‘offending’ because most crimes committed by homeless people are survival-related or otherwise associated with their homeless status. It is generally agreed that a welfare-oriented rather than a punitive approach is needed if these ‘crimes’ are to be prevented, however the perspec…
Intoxication Evidence in Rape Trials in the Country Court of Victoria
Although long associated with incidents of sexual violence, evidence of alcohol and/or other drug (‘AOD’) consumption and intoxication continues to present challenges for the enforcement of rape laws and justice for victim-survivors. This article reports on the findings of a transcript analysis of 33 Victorian rape trials involving evidence of complainant and/or defendant intoxication. Statutory provisions designed to break the culturally-assumed…
Criminalising protest through the expansion of police ‘move-on’ powers
High Court Constitutional Challenges to Criminal Law and Procedure Legislation in Australia
Scholars of criminal law and criminalisation have paid insufficient attention to the use of constitutional challenges in the courts as a strategy for influencing the nature and scope of criminal laws in Australia. This article makes a contribution to filling this gap by analysing 59 High Court of Australia decisions handed down between 1996 and 2016. Our analysis highlights the sorts of criminal laws that have been the subject of constitutional s…
Re-Framing the Rape Trial
Through a close reading of a rape trial, this article discusses the seemingly intractable problem of the disconnect between rape law reform and the resilience of outdated common law practices being used in the courtroom. It is argued that certain requirements (the location of the event; a focus on resistance and the presence of injuries; recent complaint; and the underlying assumption of the untrustworthiness of the complainant) form a 'rape sche…
Responses to the Death of Thomas Kelly
This comment explores the range of responses to Thomas Kelly's death. Mr Kelly suffered fatal head injuries after being king-hit in the face when walking down the street in Kings Cross, Sydney, in July 2012. It is argued that these responses form a populist and far more nuanced response than the more typical ‘law and order’ reactions of state governments witnessed in the past, making us think about taking populism more seriously
Turning the Spotlight on ‘Offensiveness' as a Basis for Criminal Liability
Offensiveness as a basis for legal liability in Australia is not new, but it was the subject of unprecedented scrutiny in the wake of the release of the former Labor government’s Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination Bill in November 2012. But if the 2012 Bill generated such anxiety because it contemplated treating offensive comments as a form of discrimination and therefore a civil wrong, why is there not even greater anxiety about the presence o…
More Law and Order on the Run
After the July 2012 death of Thomas Kelly from a one-punch assault in Kings Cross, the NSW government engaged in a nuanced and multi-faceted response to alcohol-fuelled violence in Sydney’s major entertainment precinct. Unfortunately, the government’s latest response — the Crimes and Other Legislation Amendment (Assault and Intoxication) Act 2014 (NSW) (‘the Act’) — is deserving of no such praise. Not only is the argument that a discrete ‘one pun…
Institutional Influences on the Parameters of Criminalisation
Within criminalisation scholarship, there has been little engagement with the work of ‘real-world’ mechanisms for promoting principled law-making, like the activities of parliamentary scrutiny committees. This article reports on an examination of the New South Wales (‘NSW’) Legislation Review Committee's findings and recommendations in relation to all criminal law bills during the period 2010–12 and assesses the impact of the Committee's recommen…
Rape Trials, Medical Texts and the Threat Of Female Speech
Despite more than three decades of law reform, debate and scholarship designed to improve the legal response to rape, reporting rates remain low, attrition rates high, conviction rates low and conviction appeals in sexual assault matters have one of the highest rates of success (Kelly, Lovett & Regan 2005; Fitzgerald 2006; Daly and Bourhous 2010; Brown et al 2015). Furthermore, dissatisfaction with the criminal justice system remains a key issue …
Sydney's Lockout Laws
The catalyst for the Institute of Criminology's Forum on 'Sydney's Lockout Laws: Cutting Crime or Civil Liberties?' was a rising tide of concern that measures introduced by the New South Wales ('NSW') Government in 2014, primarily designed to reduce alcohol-related violence, may have misjudged the balance required to simultaneously deliver on two community expectations: that residents and visitors in places likes Kings Cross and the Sydney CBD sh…
Such Slow Murder
A review of Annie Cossins, Female Criminality: Infanticide, Moral Panics and the Female Body (Palgrave Macmillan UK, 2015
The significance of ‘intoxication’ in Australian criminal law
This study explores how the state of ‘intoxication’ from the consumption of alcohol or other drugs is treated by the criminal justice system in Australia. The authors analysed more than 500 statutory provisions which attach significance to a person’s ‘intoxication’ for a variety of purposes, and 327 appellate court decisions handed down in Australia between 2010 and 2014 in which the court considered evidence that the accused, the victim or a wit…
High Court Constitutional Challenges to Criminal Law and Procedure Legislation in Australia
Scholars of criminal law and criminalisation have paid insufficient attention to the use of constitutional challenges in the courts as a strategy for influencing the nature and scope of criminal laws in Australia. This article makes a contribution to filling this gap by analysing 59 High Court of Australia decisions handed down between 1996 and 2016. Our analysis highlights the sorts of criminal laws that have been the subject of constitutional s…
Criminalising protest through the expansion of police ‘move-on’ powers
Understanding processes of criminalisation
Criminalisation theory scholars have examined important questions regarding what behaviours should be criminalised and why. More recently, greater attention has been paid to linking normative accounts with empirical and historicised analyses of criminalisation practices. Building on recent work on modalities of criminalisation as a methodological tool for contextual criminalisation research, this article introduces a second analytical approach fo…
Policing mandatory bicycle helmet laws in NSW
Australia was the first country to introduce laws mandating the wearing of helmets by bicyclists with the aim of enhancing road safety for cyclists. Examining the law and its administration in NSW, we point to some serious problems and anomalies with the law. We argue safety concerns have been relegated and the fine for the offence has lost any sense of proportionality with offending, parity with penalties imposed in other states and with penalti…
Changing the Rules on Bail
Bail decisions are a high-volume and hugely consequential component of the Australian criminal justice system, and yet, laws governing access to bail have rarely been the subject of systematic analysis. This article sheds new light on how bail laws have changed and what this reveals about how and why governments employ the criminal law as a public policy tool. Working with a dataset of 71 statutes enacted in New South Wales, Queensland and Victor…
Getting Consent 'Right
For the purposes of rape/sexual assault, the preferred approach for pursuing modernisation in Australia has been to legislate a positive definition of consent as 'free and voluntary agreement'. The absence of consent in this form has become the primary touchstone for the crime. And yet, despite multiple waves of progressive legislative reform, too few victims of sexual violence find justice in the criminal courts. This article questions whether p…
‘[I]f It’s a Public Health and Safety Thing … Why Not Just Give the Kids Helmets?’
In the early 1990s Australia became the first country in the world to introduce laws mandating the wearing of helmets by bicyclists. Road safety – particularly for child bicyclists – was the primary driver of change. This article considers the operation of the mandatory helmet law in New South Wales (‘NSW’) with the aim of assessing whether, in light of recent changes to the law and contemporary enforcement practices, its operation is consistent …
Medicinal cannabis and driving
We conclude that in medical-only access models there is little evidence to justify the differential treatment of medicinal cannabis patients, compared with those taking other prescription medications with potentially impairing effects
The most persistent rape myth? A qualitative study of ‘delay’ in complaint in Victorian rape trials
One of the oldest myths to confound the achievement of justice for victims of sexual violence is that ‘genuine’ rape victims complain immediately, loudly and officially. Dismantling this myth—or at least banishing it from the court room—has been a high priority of the modern era of rape/sexual assault law reform. How successful has this attempt been? This article reports on the initial findings of a transcript analysis study of more than 30 rape …
Differences in accounts and the ‘lying’ complainant
Intoxication Evidence in Rape Trials in the Country Court of Victoria
Although long associated with incidents of sexual violence, evidence of alcohol and/or other drug (‘AOD’) consumption and intoxication continues to present challenges for the enforcement of rape laws and justice for victim-survivors. This article reports on the findings of a transcript analysis of 33 Victorian rape trials involving evidence of complainant and/or defendant intoxication. Statutory provisions designed to break the culturally-assumed…
Back Off! Stop Making US Illegal
In Australia, vagrancy and public order laws have been used to criminalise homelessness since colonisation. Such laws have never provided an effective deterrent against ‘offending’ because most crimes committed by homeless people are survival-related or otherwise associated with their homeless status. It is generally agreed that a welfare-oriented rather than a punitive approach is needed if these ‘crimes’ are to be prevented, however the perspec…
Hyper-policing the Homeless
Drawing on interviews with 164 people experiencing homelessness across Australia, this article discusses the concept of hyper-policing to account for excessive police interventions. Hyper-policing is exhibited in the sheer numbers of police apprehensions of people experiencing homelessness (quantitative aspect) and the extreme use of force (qualitative aspect). By deploying Wacquant’s (Daedalus 139(3):74–90, 2010) notion of hyper-incarceration in…
Post-sentence supervision orders in Australia
New generation post-sentence preventive detention and supervision regimes recently enacted in Australia are a hybrid of civil and penal law elements. The laws allow for the correctional supervision, in prison or the community, of certain offenders deemed serious or high-risk at completion of their sentences – what amounts to an exceptional expansion of penal power beyond conventional notions of punishment and justified in the interest of communit…
Perfecting’ the criminal law definition of sexual consent
Text messages and social media posts as evidence in rape trials
Records of mobile phone text messages and social media posts and messages have become a ubiquitous feature of the evidence that is admitted in rape trials in Australia. Messages sent by complainants – to the accused and to other people – attract particular scrutiny during cross-examination. In this article we consider whether the deployment of digital communications evidence is impeding the long-term effort to transform rape trials and decrease t…
Law (22 works) · Political science (22 works) · Law (16 works) · Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis (13 works) · Criminology (12 works) · Psychology (12 works) · Criminal law (10 works) · Project commissioning (10 works) · Publishing (10 works) · Sociology (10 works)