A lesser species of homicide : death, drivers and the law / Kerry King.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

King, Kerry, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Traffic accidents--Australia--Statistics.

Traffic accidents.

Traffic accident victims--Australia--Western Australia.

Traffic accident victims.

Conflict of laws--Liability for traffic accidents.

Conflict of laws.

Motor vehicle driving--Legal status, laws, etc--Australia--Western Australia.

Motor vehicle driving.

Motor vehicle drivers--Legal status, laws, etc--Australia--Western Australia.

Motor vehicle drivers.

Traffic violations--Law and legislation--Australia--Western Australia.

Traffic violations.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xvi, 448 pages)

Place of Publication:

Crawley, Western Australia : UWA Publishing, [2020]

Summary:

There has been a dearth of longitudinal attention to the prosecution of 'road traffic death' in Australia and worldwide, surprising given more than 50 million people have died or been killed to date. Globally, the 'road toll' is estimated at 1.35 million per year. Almost all of those deaths are attributable to some form of human error. A Lesser Species of Homicide examines the shifting nexus where human error, fault, act or omission meet the question of criminal liability. In the first study of its kind in the world, Kerry King examines how parliaments, prosecutors, police and the courts have responded to deaths occasioned by the use of motor vehicles from the mid-twentieth century to the present, including the extent to which the community and judiciary have been prepared to label driving conduct culpable. She explores how our weddedness to the residual notion of 'accident', to speed, drink-driving, risk, masculinity and the broader driving culture, have intersected with the tenets of intention, negligence, dangerousness and carelessness to affect judgments about drivers' conduct. Drawing on hundreds of cases, King carefully traces the construction of offences and case law while observing key emerging themes, including approaches to multiple fatalities, outcomes in cases involving vulnerable road users, the difficulties with prosecuting intoxicated drivers and, most importantly, trends in charging standards and sentencing. For rigour, one Australian jurisdiction, Western Australia, has been chosen as the site of inquiry, yet there is little evidence to suggest that the trends explored herein are peculiar or exceptional. The status quo elsewhere in Australia and overseas appears remarkably similar. A Lesser Species of Homicide seeks to explore how and why deaths on the road have been treated as a species apart.--Publisher info.

Contents:

Introduction : law, 'accidents' and the 'road toll'

Ch. 1. Manslaughter and negligent driving causing death, 1946-1974 : increasing the scope of liability, conflating the test of negligence

Ch. 2. An overview of Supreme Court trials, 1946-1974 : indictments, verdicts and trends in sentencing

Ch. 3. Supreme Court trials, 1946-1974 : key emerging themes

Ch. 4. One for the road, 1946-1974 : drinking, driving and criminal negligence

Ch. 5. Killing them softly, 1946-1974 : the deaths of pedestrians and cyclists

Ch. 6. Dangerous driving causing death and the Road Traffic Act 1974 : freeing the Crown from the bonds of negligence?

Ch. 7. Reconsidering Laporte v R and the maximum imposable penalty, 1970-2004

Ch. 8. Jess' law, 2004 : the 015% deeming provision, the causative nexus and aggravated dangerous driving causing death

Ch. 9. After Jess : reflecting the value of human life? : 'Ordinary' versus aggravated dangerous driving causing death

Ch. 10. A new offence - careless driving causing death - and another law for another girl - Charlotte's law

Conclusion : a lesser species of homicide

Appendices

Table A1 : Supreme Court indictments, 1946-1974 : cases of interest with sampled files marked

Table A2 : Convictions and sentences, 1976-194 : vehicular manslaughter and negligent driving causing death

Table A3 : Supreme Court indictments, 1975-1981 : cases of interest with sampled files marked.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 427-442) and index.

ISBN:

9781760800864

1760800864