Media release: Lawyers, Academics and the Wrongfully Convicted Unite to Overturn NSW ‘No Body, No Parole’ Laws
High profile lawyers, legal academics and the wrongfully convicted, including Kathleen Folbigg and Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton, are among the over 100 signatories of a new open letter presented to NSW Attorney General Michael Daley today calling for reform of NSW ‘no body, no parole’ laws due to their impact on wrongfully convicted prisoners.
The letter, organised by the Bridge of Hope Innocence Initiative (BOHII) at RMIT University, calls for restoring the general discretion of the NSW State Parole Authority in its consideration of parole for prisoners convicted of homicide where a body has not been uncovered.
Existing ‘no body, no parole’ laws in NSW were amended in 2022 to remove the discretion of the State Parole Authority to grant parole to prisoners who do not cooperate in locating victims of homicide.
The aim of no body, no parole laws is to incentivise prisoners to provide closure to families. However, there is scant evidence they are effective at achieving this goal. Instead, no body, no parole laws put wrongfully convicted prisoners in an impossible bind; being unable to cooperate to locate a body, they are forced to spend several more years in prison despite posing little risk to the community.
“We are calling for the NSW government to restore the discretion previously provided to the NSW Parole Authority ” notes Professor Michele Ruyters, Director at BOHII, “this discretion allows the Authority to consider eligibility for parole on a case-by-case basis, providing scope for wrongfully convicted prisoners to maintain their innocence”.
The letter has also been signed by many prominent members of the NSW legal fraternity including former NSW Court of Appeal judge the Hon Anthony Whealy KC, as well as several legal academics from across the country.
Media Contact:
Professor Michele Ruyters
Director of the Bridge of Hope Innocence Initiative
Email: michele.ruyters@rmit.edu.au
Phone: 0401992235
(12th June 2024)