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Legal Studies Assessment: Law To Punish Miscarriage Assaults

Legal Studies Assessment

Law to punish miscarriage assaults
February 24, 2005
ASSAULTS on pregnant women leading to the deaths of their unborn children will be punishable by up to 25 years in prison under new New South Wales laws.

NSW Attorney-General Bob Debus said the Government would amend the definition of grievous bodily harm under the Crimes Act to include the loss of an unborn child.
Mr Debus said the amendment would not interfere with existing abortion laws.
He said the amendment was being introduced after the cases of Renee Shields who lost her unborn baby boy Byron in a road rage incident in 2001 and Kylie Flick who lost her unborn child after she was assaulted in 2002.
"The amendment is specifically aimed at criminal attacks upon women, enabling the courts to give due recognition to the pain and trauma experienced by women like Renee Shields and Kylie Flick who lost their babies following senseless and brutal attacks," Mr Debus said.
This particular article is about a new amendment that has been introduced that if an offender assaults a pregnant woman and causes a miscarriage then the offender will receive up to 25 years.

I think this is a good idea, it causes women a lot of stress and emotional damage if they lose a child unborn or born, if a criminal is the cause of a baby's death then the effect will be compensation of the woman by dealing the maximum punishment.

This article concerns administrative law as it is a law introduced to help the rights of citizens.

Unprovoked
Man jailed for shooting girl
February 24, 2005
A FATHER of two has been jailed for at least five years for the unprovoked shooting of a teenage girl.

Riannon Pierce required emergency surgery after she was shot in the abdomen by Robin Paul Murdoch at her home at Macclesfield, south-east of Adelaide, during the early hours of January 1, 2003.
The South Australian District Court heard Murdoch, 29, of Mount Barker, smiled as he fired the revolver and...