Expand your understanding of the social context of racial profiling and the impact of unconscious bias on accountability and fairness in the justice system.
Many Victorians experience racial profiling, but the concept remains untested in Australian law. With the expansion of Victoria Legal Aid’s summary crime guidelines to fund contested hearings in matters involving clients alleging discriminatory policing, cases involving allegations of racial profiling, unconscious bias and systemic racism are more likely to be contested in Victoria than previously.
Dr Tamar Hopkins has been researching and writing on the topic of racial profiling and police accountability for 20 years.
Through this session you will gain a greater understanding of:
- the concepts of racial profiling and unconscious bias and the impact on individuals and society
- how the concept of racial profiling is relevant to criminal proceedings
- evidence that might be presented and arguments that might be made to courts about racial profiling.
This event is for judicial officers only.
Speakers.
Dr Tamar Hopkins was the founding lawyer of the Police Accountability Project at Flemington & Kensington Community Legal Centre in Melbourne Australia where she acted in high-profile matters including Haile-Michael v Konstantindis & Ors (settled, Federal Court of Australia 2013) and Horvath v Australia 2014 (UN Human Rights Committee).
In 2008, Tamar was awarded a fellowship from the Victorian Law Foundation to study police complaint systems in Canada, the US and the UK. In 2010, Tamar was the LIV Community Lawyer of the Year. In 2023 Tamar's PhD thesis on racial profiling from UNSW won the Australian Law Research Award Prize. She is the author of numerous peer reviewed publications on police powers and racial profiling. Tamar appeared as an expert witness at the Yoorrook Justice Commission in May 2023.
Tamar conducts training for lawyers on police powers and racial profiling. During 2024 and 2025 she conducted a series of workshops on racial profiling across metropolitan and rural Victoria for Victoria Legal Aid in-house and panel practitioners to assist the introduction of VLA’s new summary crime guidelines. In 2024 Tamar established the Racial Profiling Data Monitoring Project based on FOI’d data from police records.
Dr Tamar Hopkins was the founding lawyer of the Police Accountability Project at Flemington & Kensington Community Legal Centre in Melbourne Australia where she acted in high-profile matters including Haile-Michael v Konstantindis & Ors (settled, Federal Court of Australia 2013) and Horvath v Australia 2014 (UN Human Rights Committee).
In 2008, Tamar was awarded a fellowship from the Victorian Law Foundation to study police complaint systems in Canada, the US and the UK. In 2010, Tamar was the LIV Community Lawyer of the Year. In 2023 Tamar's PhD thesis on racial profiling from UNSW won the Australian Law Research Award Prize. She is the author of numerous peer reviewed publications on police powers and racial profiling. Tamar appeared as an expert witness at the Yoorrook Justice Commission in May 2023.
Tamar conducts training for lawyers on police powers and racial profiling. During 2024 and 2025 she conducted a series of workshops on racial profiling across metropolitan and rural Victoria for Victoria Legal Aid in-house and panel practitioners to assist the introduction of VLA’s new summary crime guidelines. In 2024 Tamar established the Racial Profiling Data Monitoring Project based on FOI’d data from police records.