A former Supreme Court judge says society’s increasingly violent nature, not a broken bail system, is behind Victoria’s worsening crime problem.
Lex Lasry, a respected jurist and judge for 17 years, has waded into the ongoing public and political controversy surrounding youth crime by saying every bail decision was ultimately a “gamble”.
Former Supreme Court judge Lex Lasry, pictured in 2018, believes society is becoming more violent.Credit: Simon Schluter
Lasry’s intervention has come amid concerns that violent crime is growing out of control – particularly youth crime – with offenders committing serious violent offences after being granted bail by magistrates and judges, sometimes on multiple occasions.
In an exclusive interview on the podcast Neil Mitchell Asks Why, to be released on Tuesday morning, Lasry challenged calls from the public, politicians and police that the bail system needed to be “tougher” and warned that there was “no easy answer”.
“I don’t think you can make blanket statements like that. You can’t have a policy that bail has generally got to be tougher. It’s got to be tailored to the particular situation,” Lasry said.
“There are plenty of rules. If you look at the Bail Act, there are plenty of rules about those who have to establish exceptional circumstances, whether or not there’s an unacceptable risk and so on. So there are all sorts of safeguards built in. It’s just a matter of dealing case by case with what comes before the court.
“Every bail application, particularly one that involves someone charged with violence, is a gamble because there’s always the risk if they’ve behaved violently in the past they will again.”
When Mitchell asked Lasry how many chances an offender should get, Lasry replied: “You can’t give a definitive answer.
“I know this is not an answer to the question, and people hearing this will say it’s not an answer to the question, but it really does depend on the circumstances.
“I think the safeguards in the Bail Act are still there and still able to be used to protect the public.”
Lex Lasry on the drums in 2018 for his band The Lex Pistols.
Lasry said the recent increase in youth crime was horrifying and “the first question I suppose you have to ask is, ‘Where are the parents?’
“There’s obviously a disconnection felt by a lot of kids in that age bracket, and they give effect to that disconnection by going out and entertaining themselves by committing offences. There’s something really radically wrong in the lives of those kids that’s now, perhaps, present to a greater extent than it has been.”
But Lasry said judges aren’t experts in explaining the increase in youth crime. “It’s almost a job for a sociologist,” he said.
“It’s really an area where people who are experts in the area should be offering the view. I don’t think I’m qualified.”
The podcast is the first time that Lasry has spoken publicly since his shock departure from the bench in February.
In an interview across more than an hour, Lasry also addressed his protest resignation in February after learning a complaint had been filed against him on behalf of Director of Public Prosecutions Kerri Judd calling into question his independence and impartiality.
Judd filed the complaint after Lasry had criticised the decision of prosecutors to drop a series of manslaughter charges against Simiona Tuteru, 52, who was the boss of the trucking company involved in the crash that killed four police officers on the Eastern Freeway in 2020.
“The point that I was making was that there should be some explanation as to why those charges weren’t proceeding,” Lasry told Mitchell.
“I didn’t mind what the explanation was, but I thought the court, and indeed the community, were entitled to know why they didn’t proceed. That didn’t cut the ice.”
Lasry said he felt his position had become untenable because he had been hearing other cases involving the DPP for months without being made aware of the existence of the complaint.
“It became immediately apparent to me that, in view of the nature of the complaint, I couldn’t keep going. I couldn’t keep hearing cases that involved the DPP,” he said.
“It was, in a sense, a protest.”
When asked if the saga damaged his reputation, Lasry replied: “I assume so … It hurt a lot.”
In the past, the DPP has declined to comment on Lasry’s remarks.
In the podcast interview, Lasry also discussed:
Whether society was becoming more violent
“I’ve said a couple of times in sentencing that I never cease to be amazed at the way people can find new methods to hurt each other,” he said. “Particularly in domestic violence cases, particularly the way – usually – men hurt women, kill women.
“I think it’s probably some aspect of drugs, alcohol and possibly the media these days. When I say the media, the entertainment media, in a sense, enables people to become inured to violence in a way that hasn’t happened before. That violence seems to me to be now being seen as part of the currency of daily life, particularly in domestic violence situations.”
Changing views of the court
“I think it’s important that the courts have an intimidating aspect to them to ensure that people are compliant, and the most important compliance is telling the truth. Perhaps ‘intimidating’ is the wrong word. It should be an atmosphere where people understand the gravity of the situation they’re in and see the need to tell the truth about the evidence they’re giving. Or in the case of lawyers, comply with the rules completely. The more casual it becomes, I think the less that happens.”
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