THE LIVEWELL Hervey Bay podcast recently had a conversation with Melissa Guilfoyle, a leading lawyer on the Fraser Coast. .
The focus of this podcast was to explore various legal issues that individuals and our community are facing, and how you can live a better life, knowing that you’re secure with all your legal obligations.
“A very topical question in our community at the moment is about youth crime,” said Melissa Guilfoyle.
“I don’t see it as a youth crime problem, it’s a crime problem and we have that in every region, it’s always been a problem”.
“We’ve got crime problems everywhere but we have legislations in place to protect people from harm”.
“It’s about finding ways to properly address criminal behaviour”.
“There are a few options on addressing criminal behaviour and that could be punitive or it could be rehabilitative”.
“The punitive option is what the community are really troubled about at the moment. They feel like people are not being punished enough for their crimes”.
“I think we need to be focusing on rehabilitation and the root cause of the criminal behaviour”.
“I am a general lawyer therefore I do focus on a lot of areas of the law and conveyancing is one of those”.
“I’m seeing a lot of people moving to our region”.
“With the population increasing we get more people, which unfortunately means more crime”.
“I am no way underplaying these crimes, we have had a lot of serious matters in our region lately”.
“However, it’s not just our region, many others are having similar escalating behaviours”.
“We don’t have a one punishment fits all”.
“There is a legal system in place, we have defence lawyers and we have prosecutors”.
“Queensland Police Service have their prosecutors that will appear in court and make the allegations against the defendant”.
“The defendant will have their criminal defence lawyer”.
How does one defend a guilty people?
“My job as a defence lawyer is not to necessarily to defend guilty people, but it’s to make sure all the processes and procedures have been completed properly to make sure this person is in fact guilty”.
“Then if they are guilty, what’s the appropriate penalty would be based on precedence and community expectations”.
“A specific deterrent is given to each individual, to make sure that any penalty given will stop them doing it again”.
“Childhood trauma can be quite a significant predictor of future behaviour, but people also make mistakes.”
“You may not necessarily be setting out to do something wrong, but sometimes other pressures may lead to errors in judgment which then lands you in court”.
“I always want what’s right for the client, I don’t want people to be unfairly punished”.
“Making sure that they are not accused of things that they haven’t done or unjustly or harshly punished for things because of their circumstances”.
What are the things that we need to be conscious of from a legal perspective?
“Lawyers look after your wills and enduring powers of attorney”.
“These two documents will protect your assets should something happen to you”.
“An enduring power of attorney will give someone the legal power to look after your assets and financials, if you’re still alive but not capable of making general, legal or medical decisions”.
“Your will leaves someone directly in charge of how to distribute your assets should you pass away”.
“Make sure you have your policies and procedures in place, in your life and your work environment”.
What advice would Melissa give to her younger self.
“Taking time off isn’t a bad thing”.
“I think people are so keen to figure out what they want to do for the rest of their lives in high school, they put too much pressure on themselves. Not realising that what happens in high school doesn’t always matter 20 years down the track”.
“You’ve got every opportunity, you can do whatever you want, there are no shackles, there is a way”.
“If you’re driven enough, there is always a way to find out how to do what you want”.
