In November 2006, the Supreme Court commenced a pilot mediation program for criminal cases to resolve issues in trials speedily and in some cases to avoid the need for a trial altogether. Results of this initiative have been encouraging, and the Court has decided to widen the program’s scope by engaging the services of a second mediator, and extending mediation forward to the period prior to the committal of an accused.
Mr Ron Cannon has now been joined as a mediator by His Honour Kevin Hammond, the recently retired Crime and Corruption Commissioner. The two mediators will operate in tandem. It may well be that in some matters, case conferences will be conducted by the two mediators together.
The Court's offer of mediation services at the committal stage will encourage case conferencing at the time of prosecution disclosure under s 42 of the Criminal Procedure Act. Importantly, this is the period during which the defence first learns the strength of the prosecution case, and the DPP formulates the terms of the indictment. It is the ideal time for the parties to confer and try to agree on a sensible way forward.
Involvement of the parties in the process is conducted in accordance with the Protocol for Voluntary Criminal Case Conferencing, developed by the Court to ensure that criminal case conferencing does not in any way improperly interfere with the proper conduct of the criminal process.
Participation in the process is entirely voluntary, for the State/Commonwealth and the accused. Only if counsel for the State/Commonwealth and counsel for the accused agree that a case might appropriately be dealt with in this way does the protocol apply.
The mediators’ involvement in criminal case conferencing is in no sense part of the trial process. A mediator does not speak for the Court and does not bind the Court in relation to anything said at a conference. Nor is anything said or agreed by the parties or their counsel at such a conference binding in the sense that it is enforceable.
The conference may be with respect to any issue/s, but matters that might be the subject of discussion include identifying the issues, the making of admissions, the likely prospects of conviction or acquittal and other possible outcomes.
Please refer to the Protocol for Voluntary Criminal Case Conferencing for more information.
