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This is a Bill, not an Act. For current law, see the Acts databases.
South Australia
Statutes Amendment (Bullying)
Bill 2017
A BILL FOR
An Act to amend the
Criminal
Law Consolidation Act 1935
and the
Intervention
Orders (Prevention of Abuse) Act 2009
.
Contents
Part 2—Amendment of Criminal Law
Consolidation Act 1935
3Insertion of Part 3 Division 7AA
Part 3—Amendment of Intervention
Orders (Prevention of Abuse) Act 2009
4Amendment of section 8—Meaning of
abuse—domestic and non-domestic
The Parliament of South Australia enacts as
follows:
This Act may be cited as the Statutes Amendment (Bullying)
Act 2017.
In this Act, a provision under a heading referring to the amendment of a
specified Act amends the Act so specified.
Part 2—Amendment
of Criminal Law Consolidation
Act 1935
3—Insertion
of Part 3 Division 7AA
After section 20 insert:
Division 7AA—Bullying
20A—Interpretation
(1) In this Division—
cause—a person causes harm if the person's conduct is
the sole cause of the harm or substantially contributes to the harm;
harm means physical or mental harm;
mental harm includes—
(a) psychological harm; and
(b) emotional harm; and
(c) suicidal ideation; and
(d) thoughts of self-harm; and
(e) distress, anxiety, or fear, that is more than trivial;
offensive material includes material that is degrading,
humiliating, disgraceful or harassing;
parent, of a child, includes—
(a) a step-parent of the child; and
(b) a person who stands in loco parentis to the child;
reckless—a person is reckless in causing harm to
another person if the first person—
(a) is aware of a substantial risk that the person's conduct could result
in harm; and
(b) engages in the conduct despite the risk and without adequate
justification;
serious harm means—
(a) harm that endangers a person's life; or
(b) harm that consists of, or results in, serious and protracted
impairment of a physical or mental function; or
(c) harm that consists of, or results in, serious disfigurement.
(2) For the purposes of this Division, a person bullies
another person if the person does 1 or more of the following:
(a) expressly or implicitly threatens to cause harm to the
person;
(b) degrades, humiliates, disgraces or harasses the other person, or
expressly or implicitly threatens to do so;
(c) uses abusive or offensive language towards the other person;
(d) gives or sends offensive material to the other person, or leaves
offensive material where it will be found by, given to or brought to the
attention of the other person;
(e) publishes or transmits offensive material by means of the internet or
some other form of electronic communication in such a way that the offensive
material will be found by, or brought to the attention of, the other
person;
(f) engages in any other conduct that could reasonably be expected
to—
(i) degrade, humiliate, disgrace or harass the other person; or
(ii) cause apprehension or fear in the other person,
and a reference to an act of bullying is to be construed
accordingly.
(3) For the purposes of this Division, a reference to harm
caused to a person will be taken to include self-harm inflicted by the
person.
20B—Application of Division
(1) This Division does not apply to conduct occurring before the
commencement of this Division.
(2) This Division does not apply to conduct consisting of the disciplining
of a child by a parent of the child unless it is established that the parent
intended to cause harm to the child.
(3) If a defendant's conduct lies within the limits of what would be
generally accepted in the community as normal incidents of social interaction or
community life, this Division does not apply to the conduct unless it is
established that the defendant intended to cause harm.
20C—Bullying
(1) A person who,
intending to cause harm, or being reckless as to whether harm will be caused, to
another person—
(a) commits more than 1 act of bullying against the other person over a
period of not less than 7 days; and
(b) by so doing causes harm or serious harm to the other person,
is guilty of an offence.
Maximum penalty:
(a) if the bullying causes serious harm to the victim—imprisonment
for 10 years;
(b) in any other case—imprisonment for 5 years.
(2) Despite any
other Act or rule of law, if a person is charged on an information with an
offence against this section, the information must allege with sufficient
particularity—
(a) the period during which the acts of bullying allegedly occurred;
and
(b) the alleged conduct comprising the acts of bullying,
but—
(c) it is not necessary to prove that the defendant was, or ought to have
been, aware that there was an appreciable risk that harm would be caused to the
victim by each act of bullying; and
(d) the information need not—
(i) allege particulars of each act of bullying with the degree of
particularity that would be required if the act of bullying were charged as an
offence under a different section of this or any other Act; or
(ii) identify the occasions on which, places at which or order in which
particular acts of bullying occurred; or
(iii) identify particular acts of bullying as causing particular harm to
the victim.
(3) In proceedings for an offence against
subsection (1)
, it is not necessary to prove that the defendant intended to cause serious
harm to the victim.
(4) In proceedings for an offence against
subsection (1)
where the victim self-harmed, it is not necessary to prove that the
defendant knew, or ought to have known, that the victim may self-harm.
20D—Alternative verdicts etc
(1) If —
(a) a jury is not satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that a charge of an
offence against
section 20C
has been established; but
(b) the Judge has instructed the jury that it is open to the jury on the
evidence to find the defendant guilty of a specified lesser offence or any 1 of
a number of specified lesser offences; and
(c) the jury is satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the specified
lesser offence, or a particular 1 of the specified lesser offences, has been
established,
the jury may return a verdict that the defendant is not guilty of the
offence charged but is guilty of the lesser offence.
(2) A person who has been acquitted or convicted on a charge of an offence
against
section 20C
may not be convicted of another offence arising out of the same set of
circumstances and involving a physical element that is common to that
charge.
(3) A person who has been acquitted or convicted on a charge of an offence
other than an offence against
section 20C
may not be convicted of an offence against that section if the charge
arises out of the same set of circumstances and involves a physical element that
is common to the charge of that other offence.
Part 3—Amendment
of Intervention Orders (Prevention of Abuse)
Act 2009
4—Amendment
of section 8—Meaning of abuse—domestic and
non-domestic
Section 8—after subsection (2) insert:
(2a) For the purposes of this Act, bullying (within the meaning of Part 3
Division 7AA of the
Criminal
Law Consolidation Act 1935
) will be taken to be an act of abuse against a
person.