{"id":"nsw:act-1916-080","name":"Crimes Prevention Act 1916","slug":"crimes-prevention-act-1916","collection":"act","jurisdiction":"nsw","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":"80 of 1916","makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":111974,"registerId":"nsw-act-1916-080-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-03","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Name of Act","content":"#### 1 Name of Act\n\n1 Name of Act\n\n> This Act may be cited as the [Crimes Prevention Act 1916](/view/html/inforce/current/act-1916-080).","sortOrder":0},{"sectionNumber":"2","sectionType":"section","heading":"Inciting to crimes","content":"#### 2 Inciting to crimes\n\n2 Inciting to crimes\n\n> If any person incites to, urges, aids, or encourages the commission of crimes or the carrying on of any operations for or by the commission of crimes that person shall be guilty of an offence against this Act.","sortOrder":1},{"sectionNumber":"3","sectionType":"section","heading":"Printing or publishing writing inciting to crimes","content":"#### 3 Printing or publishing writing inciting to crimes\n\n3 Printing or publishing writing inciting to crimes\n\n> If any person prints or publishes any writing which incites to, urges, aids, or encourages the commission of crimes or the carrying on of any operations for or by the commission of crimes, such person shall be guilty of an offence against this Act, and shall be liable to imprisonment for any term not exceeding six months or to a penalty not exceeding 1 penalty unit.\n> \n> **s 3:** Am 1965 No 33, sec 4 (2); 1993 No 47, Sch 1.","sortOrder":2},{"sectionNumber":"4","sectionType":"section","heading":"Penalty for offences","content":"#### 4 Penalty for offences\n\n4 Penalty for offences\n\n> If any person is guilty of an offence against this Act for which a penalty is not otherwise provided that person shall be liable on summary conviction before the Local Court to imprisonment for any term not exceeding six months.\n> \n> **s 4:** Am 1999 No 31, Sch 4.21; 2007 No 94, Sch 2.","sortOrder":3},{"sectionNumber":"5","sectionType":"section","heading":"Where offence punishable otherwise","content":"#### 5 Where offence punishable otherwise\n\n5 Where offence punishable otherwise\n\n> Where an offence against this Act is also punishable under any other Act or at common law, it may be prosecuted and punished either under this Act or under the other Act or at common law, but so that no person be punished twice for the same offence.","sortOrder":4}],"analysis":{"summary":{"complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"Based on the extremely limited information available, there is no evidence of scope change. The only recorded amendment (1999) was purely cosmetic — removing non-section headings. Without the actual operative provisions of the Act, no meaningful assessment of whether scope has drifted from original intent can be made."},"complexity_factors":["The document provided contains only administrative metadata and website navigation content — the actual operative legal provisions are absent, making substantive analysis impossible","The Act dates to 1916, meaning any surviving provisions would likely use archaic legal language","The near-total lack of amendments over 110 years suggests either very narrow application or effective redundancy","The wartime origins (WWI era) may mean the Act contains emergency or special powers provisions that can be complex in application"],"plain_english_summary":"## Crimes Prevention Act 1916 (NSW)\n\n**What is this?**\nThis is a very old New South Wales law, originally passed in 1916. However, the document provided contains **almost no substantive content** — it is essentially just the administrative metadata (status information, website navigation, and history notes) from the NSW legislation website, rather than the actual text of the Act itself.\n\n**What we can tell from the metadata:**\n- The Act is still **technically in force** in NSW, under the responsibility of the Attorney General\n- It has had very minimal amendment — the only recorded change was a 1999 amendment that removed certain headings (a purely cosmetic/formatting change)\n- The last substantive version dates to **6 July 2009**, suggesting the Act has been essentially dormant for over 15 years\n- Given its 1916 origin (during World War I), it likely related to wartime crimes prevention powers, though **the actual operative provisions (the rules themselves) are not included in this document**\n\n**Who does it affect?**\nWithout the actual text of the Act, it is impossible to say with confidence who is affected or what it requires or prohibits.\n\n**Bottom line:** This document does not contain enough of the actual law to provide a meaningful analysis of its practical impact on people. Only the administrative shell of the legislation is visible here."},"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The supplied text shows amendment notes to penalty provisions (see notes accompanying s 3 and s 4) but does not indicate any change to the core prohibitions in ss 2–3. The Act, as presented, continues to criminalise incitement (s 2) and publication of writings that incite (s 3), sets default summary penalties where none are otherwise provided (s 4), and allows alternative prosecution under other law while preventing double punishment (s 5)."},"complexity_factors":["Short, narrowly focused text that creates a small number of offences (ss 2–3).","Key terms—'incites', 'urges', 'aids', 'encourages'—are not defined in the Act, leaving interpretive work to courts and prosecutors (ss 2–3).","Separate publishing offence creates different liability pathway and penalty structure (s 3).","Overlap and prosecutorial choice between this Act and other statutes or common law creates procedural complexity despite substantive brevity (s 5).","Penalty and jurisdictional rules are split between a specific publishing penalty (s 3) and a default summary penalty (s 4) with amendment history noted, which affects sentencing outcomes and forum (s 3, s 4)."],"plain_english_summary":"Mechanically, this Act creates three core rules and sets penalties and prosecution rules for them.\n\n- It makes it a criminal offence to incite, urge, aid or encourage the commission of crimes or the carrying on of operations for the commission of crimes (s 2).  \n- It makes it a separate offence to print or publish any writing that incites, urges, aids or encourages such crimes; that offence attracts a maximum of six months imprisonment or a monetary penalty of up to 1 penalty unit as recorded in the text (s 3).  \n- If an offence under this Act does not have a specific penalty elsewhere, a person convicted on summary charge in the Local Court faces up to six months imprisonment (s 4).  \n- Where the same conduct is punishable under another statute or at common law, prosecutors may choose to proceed under this Act or under the other law, but a person cannot be punished twice for the same conduct (s 5).\n\nStated purpose-claims (as expressed by the text): the Act treats incitement to crime and publication of writings that incite crime as criminal conduct and prescribes punishments and procedural rules to enable prosecution of that conduct (ss 2–5). Those are the explicit operative aims in the text.\n\nHow this works in practice and who is affected\n\n- Who pays: Individuals who directly incite or encourage crimes face criminal liability (s 2). Persons who print or publish writings that do the same face separate criminal exposure and the penalties in s 3. If convicted on a summary charge where no other penalty is provided, the Local Court may impose up to six months imprisonment (s 4).  \n- Who decides: Prosecutors and courts decide whether to prosecute under this Act or under another statute/common law for the same conduct (s 5). Courts decide guilt and impose the penalties listed in ss 3–4.  \n- Behaviour changes and incentives: The presence of criminal sanctions creates a legal cost to inciting crime and to publishing material that incites crime (ss 2–3). Publishers therefore face a compliance/information-screening incentive to avoid distributing material that could be characterised as incitement (s 3).  \n- Compliance burden and enforcement mechanics: The Act places an enforcement burden on prosecutors to prove that the accused incited, urged, aided or encouraged crime. For publishers, the law attaches direct legal risk to printed or published material that meets that description (s 3). The text does not set out procedural investigative powers or evidentiary rules beyond identifying the offences and penalties.  \n- Prosecutorial discretion and duplication risk: Section 5 permits alternative bases for prosecution (statutory or common law) but prevents double punishment for the same conduct; that creates prosecutorial choice about charging strategy and which penalties or sentencing frameworks will apply (s 5).  \n\nTrade-offs, costs and implementation points (mechanism-focused)\n\n- The Act imposes criminal liability and associated enforcement costs on persons who engage in the specified conduct (ss 2–4).  \n- The separate publishing offence (s 3) concentrates legal exposure on those who disseminate written material, which creates a practical compliance burden for printers, publishers and potentially platforms that distribute third‑party writings.  \n- The text leaves open overlap with other offences: identical conduct may be prosecuted under this Act or under other statutes/common law, and practical outcomes (sentencing, evidential requirements) will depend on the charging choice (s 5).  \n- The Act gives courts summary jurisdiction for unspecified-penalty offences (s 4), which affects the forum and procedure used.  \n\nImplementation risks and opportunity costs\n\n- Enforcement requires proving the mental and factual elements of “inciting, urging, aiding or encouraging,” language that is not defined in the text; that can create evidential and interpretive work for prosecutors and courts (ss 2–3).  \n- The text shows amendments affecting penalty provisions (see notes to s 3 and s 4), but the core prohibitions as printed here remain the operative mechanisms for criminalising incitement and publication of incitement (ss 2–5)."},"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The Act remains tightly focused on its original purpose of criminalising incitement to commit crimes and the publication of inciting material. The amendments noted (1965, 1993, 1999, 2007) appear to be machinery updates (penalty unit adjustments and court name changes) rather than substantive expansions of scope."},"complexity_factors":["Only 5 operative sections total","No defined terms section or interpretation provisions","Minimal cross-referencing (only internal references to 'this Act')","Straightforward conditional structure: 'If X, then Y'","Single amendment history noted but not integrated into operative text","No nested exceptions or complex provisos"],"plain_english_summary":"**What this law does:**\n\nThis Act makes it a crime to **encourage or help other people commit crimes**, even if you don't actually commit the crime yourself.\n\n**Who it affects:**\n\n- Anyone who **urges, helps, or encourages** someone else to commit a crime\n- Anyone who **prints or publishes** material (like flyers, articles, or posters) that encourages criminal activity\n\n**What the penalties are:**\n\n- For publishing inciting material: **up to 6 months in prison** or a fine (currently 1 penalty unit, which is a set dollar amount that changes over time)\n- For other offences under this Act: **up to 6 months in prison**\n- You can be prosecuted under this Act **or** under other laws that might apply to the same conduct — but you can't be punished twice for the same thing\n\n**Why it matters:**\n\nThis law targets the \"behind the scenes\" people who stir up trouble — the agitators, publishers of inflammatory material, and organisers who get others to do the dirty work. It's designed to stop criminal activity before it happens by going after the people planting the ideas and providing the encouragement.\n\n**Key point:** You don't have to actually commit the underlying crime to be guilty under this Act. Simply encouraging someone else to do it is enough."},"issue_detection":{"absurdities":[],"contradictions":[]}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/crimes-prevention-act-1916","history":"/api/acts/crimes-prevention-act-1916/history","analysis":"/api/acts/crimes-prevention-act-1916/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/crimes-prevention-act-1916/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/crimes-prevention-act-1916/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/crimes-prevention-act-1916/documents"}}