New South Wales Bills Explanatory Notes

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CRIMES AMENDMENT (ASSAULT OF POLICE OFFICERS) BILL 1997

[Act 1997 No 80]
New South Wales
Crimes Amendment (Assault of

Police Officers) Bill 1997

Explanatory note

This explanatory note relates to this Bill as introduced into Parliament.*

Overview of Bill

The object of this Bill is to amend the Crimes Act 1900 to create new
offences relating to assaults committed against police officers in the
execution of their duty. The assaults are similar to those provided by sections
35 (Malicious wounding or infliction of grievous bodily harm), 59 (Assault
occasioning actual bodily harm) and 61 (Common assault prosecuted by
indictment) of the Act, but are dealt with by the Bill as aggravated cases of
those offences.

* Amended in committee--see table at end of volume.

Crimes Amendment (Assault of Police Officers) Bill 1997 [Act 1997 No 80]
Explanatory note

Outline of provisions

Clause 1 sets out the name (also called the short title) of the proposed Act.

Clause 2 provides for the commencement of the proposed Act on the date of
assent.

Clause 3 is a formal provision giving effect to the amendment to the Crimes
Act I900 set out in Schedule l.

Schedule 1

Amendment

The Schedule inserts a new section 60 into the Act which provides for the
punishment of 3 categories of assault committed against police officers while
in the execution of their duty. The categories are:

(a) assault not occasioning actual bodily harm (punishable by penal
servitude for 5 years), and
(b) assault occasioning actual bodily harm (punishable by penal servitude
for 7 years), and
(c) assault consisting of malicious wounding or inflicting grievous bodily
harm (punishable by penal servitude for 12 years).

The section extends to a case where the assault is committed on an off-duty
officer, if the assault is committed as a consequence of, or in retaliation for,
actions undertaken by the officer in the lawful execution of the officer's duty.

Explanatory note page 2

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