Vicious Lawless Association Disestablishment Act 2013

Vicious Lawless Association Disestablishment Act 2013 is an act of the Parliament of Queensland,[1] enacted to "severely punish members of criminal organisations that commit serious offenses". The act aimed to "come down harshly on outlaw motorcycle gangs and their members" and was one of three passed in the same session on 16 October 2013,[1] going into effect immediately. The associated acts enacted on the same date were the Criminal Law (Criminal Organisations Disruption) Amendment Act 2013 and the Tattoo Parlours Act 2013.[1] The relevant Minister is required to review the Act after 3 years.

Stipulations

The Act applies to legal organisations and "any other group of 3 or more persons by whatever name called, whether associated formally or informally and whether the group is legal or illegal." Similarly it defines office bearer of the organisation to allow for informal roles, with the defendant required to prove that they are not an office bearer.

The Act declares a person to be a "vicious lawless associate" if they commit a serious offence "for the purposes of, or in the course of participating in the affairs of, the relevant association". It is incumbent on the defendant to prove that the association is "an association whose members do not have as their purpose" the serious offences listed in the Act. If a person is declared to be a "vicious lawless associate", this Act mandates a further 15 years imprisonment on top of the sentence for the crime for members of the organisation, and 10 years imprisonment in addition to this for office bearers of the organisation.[1]

Specific declared offenses of the Act include parts from the following Acts that are deemed to be 'serious offences' for the purpose of the Act:

See also

Further reading

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Brad Ryan, Brad; Santow, Simon & staff (2013-10-16). "Qld Government's tough anti-bikie laws passed after marathon debate in Parliament". ABC News (online news article).


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