VPRS 1517 Court of Petty Sessions Index to Convictions

Indexes of Convictions were created in most Courts of Petty Sessions from the 1880's until the 1960's. Throughout this period, various circular instructions from the Law Department to Clerks of Court required them to keep an index by surname to all criminal convictions and orders made at their court. This index allowed clerks to find the entry for a particular case in the Court's register/s. Since the mid 1960's Clerks of Court have not been required to maintain such an index, although a few courts have continued informal indexing systems.Although specially printed index books were provided to all courts, the manner in which the index was kept varied from court to court. The Index usually includes the names and case details of all persons found guilty of a criminal charge under Victorian legislation. Sometimes the Index includes the names and case details of persons found guilty of a criminal charge under Commonwealth legislation. The Index does not usually include references to defendants in criminal matters who were found not guilty, or where the charges were struck out. After 1918 entries for convictions for truancy, non-vaccination, drunkenness and non-attendance at drill (under the Commonwealth Defence Act) were not required to be indexed.Each entry in the index gives details of the name of the convicted person, the date of their conviction and the particulars of the offence (often the name of the Act under which the charge was made is given). Some indexes also give a reference to the case number in the court register.

19世纪80年代至20世纪60年代，绝大多数简易裁判法院（Courts of Petty Sessions）均建立了定罪记录索引。在此期间，维多利亚州法务部向法院书记员发布的各类通函指令均要求其按照姓氏对本院审理的全部刑事定罪及裁判文书建立索引。该索引可帮助书记员快速检索法院登记册中的特定案件条目。自20世纪60年代中期起，法院书记员不再被要求维护此类索引，但仍有少数法院继续采用非正式的索引编制体系。尽管所有法院均配发了专用印制索引簿，但各法院的索引编制方式仍存在差异。该索引通常涵盖依据维多利亚州立法被认定有罪的所有人员的姓名及案件详情。部分索引还会纳入依据联邦立法被认定有罪的人员姓名及案件详情。该索引通常不会收录刑事诉讼中被判无罪或指控被撤销的被告人相关信息。1918年之后，针对逃学、未接种疫苗、醉酒以及未参加军训（依据《联邦国防法》（Commonwealth Defence Act））的定罪记录不再要求编入索引。索引中的每条条目均会载明定罪人员姓名、定罪日期以及犯罪详情（通常会标注指控所依据的法案名称）。部分索引还会提供法院登记册中的案件编号检索指引。