Review of particular criminal defences

Review update - final report live

On 1 December 2025 we delivered our final report and recommendations to the Attorney-General.

The report reflects our research and legal analysis including a statewide community attitudes survey and focus group research. It also reflects the findings of our extensive engagement with stakeholders across the justice sector and community.

The Commission makes 36 recommendations for reform. In summary, we recommend:

• a simpler test for self-defence
• a new defence of duress
• both self-defence and duress be available as defences to murder where a person is responding to a fear of death or serious harm
• reforms to improve the availability of self-defence when DFV victim-survivors use resistive violence
• replacing the s 304B partial defence with an alternative that recognises victims of DFV may use force in self-defence that is necessary but not reasonable
• repealing the three provocation defences in the Criminal Code
• recognising provocation as a relevant factor in sentencing
• retaining the mandatory penalty of life imprisonment
• replacing the current minimum non-parole periods with standard non-parole periods
• a suite of reforms to increase the protection of children by progressively narrowing the domestic discipline defence over a seven-year period
• a package of reforms to practices and procedures to ensure the recommended defences work as intended and ensure that the justice system is both fair and effective.

Our review

On 15 November 2023 the Queensland Government asked us to examine and make recommendations about particular defences in the Criminal Code:

• self-defence
• provocation as a defence to assault
• provocation as a partial defence to murder
• the partial defence to murder of killing for preservation in an abusive domestic relationship, and
• domestic discipline.

Terms of Reference

The terms of reference   (PDF, 777.9 KB) from the Attorney-General are available for download.