Death threats against judges among soaring safety incidents linked to sovereign citizens

Death threats against judges and safety incidents inside Victoria’s courts have soared in a trend that has been linked to the so-called sovereign citizen movement.

New data from the independent agency that runs Victoria’s court system shows “judicial security threats” – threats to harm or kill a judge, court staff or a member of their families – more than doubled in a year to 35 in 2024. The figure looks set to double again this year after already reaching 32 recorded incidents in the first six months of 2025.

These threats are often made from the dock or inside the courtroom by offenders or their families, but also include ones sent through the post, email or put on the internet.

“The courts and VCAT [the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal] have observed increases in concerning behaviours in recent years,” said Louise Anderson, chief executive of Court Services Victoria. “This includes aggression by court users towards staff and threats to judicial officers.”

CSV declined to comment on the nature of the threats or who was responsible for making them, except to say it was a “critical issue”.

But two sources in the judiciary, who cannot be identified publicly, pointed to the so-called sovereign citizen movement as a particular concern. The movement is based on a belief that rejects the power of the state – and judiciary – as illegitimate.

The extremely confrontational behaviour of some sovereign citizens has led to judges and magistrates increasingly feeling unsafe, particularly after the alleged murder of two police officers by self-described sovereign citizen Dezi Freeman, the sources said.

Freeman had numerous confrontations with the Victorian legal system before the Porepunkah shooting on August 26 that killed Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson, 59, and Senior Constable Vadim de Waart-Hottart, 35.

Freeman had contested a speeding fine all the way to the Supreme Court, and in a case in 2020, threatened to have a magistrate arrested after becoming angry that the matter had been repeatedly adjourned.

“Does this court obey the law?” he asked the magistrate. “I’m very angry. I have no grace left for anyone involved. You must stand down. You are now in my custody. You are not free to leave.”

The following year, Freeman was arrested outside court in Myrtleford at an anti-government protest on the same day private criminal charges filed by activists against then-premier Daniel Andrews for “misprision (concealment) of treason” were dismissed.

Legal records show sovereign citizens have challenged the authority of the courts in matters ranging from speeding fines, home foreclosures and custody battles to serious criminal matters including sex crimes and attempted murder.

“I’d say since COVID, there has been a sharp rise in the number of people who make these arguments in court – they are disruptive, they are argumentative, they are combative,” said Dr Harry Hobbs, an associate professor of law at the University of NSW who has studied interactions between the legal system and people who hold “pseudolaw” beliefs.

“I think they are more difficult to deal with than your traditional self-represented litigant because of the nature of the ideology that underpins their arguments, which is this narrative that says that they hold the true law and state actors are corrupt and wicked forces. They see the courts as a form of tyranny.”

In July, sitting Victorian Supreme Court judge Steven Moore took the highly unusual step of publicly flagging the safety problem in an article published by the Australian Judicial Officers Association that included the warning that the “foundation stone upon which judicial wellbeing and the work of the courts rests is under threat and in need of urgent attention”.

“An increase in threats and threatening behaviours towards judicial officers by litigants and court users is the common experience of many judicial officers, particularly those sitting in Local and Magistrates’ Courts,” he wrote.

Moore cited research that almost a quarter of NSW judges had received a death threat, “a rate higher than that reported in previous studies from the United States”.

The issue is set to be raised at an upcoming Council of Magistrates meeting, where the state’s more than 150 magistrates will gather to discuss issues affecting the bench.

The new data comes as the number of health and safety incidents recorded inside Victoria’s court system – which covers the Supreme, County, Magistrates’ and Coroners courts as well as VCAT – soared to 607 in 2024-25, up 142 per cent in five years.

About 40 per cent of incidents are classified as instances of occupational violence and aggression from court users and members of the public. The rest are workplace-type injuries and medical incidents.

Nick Papas, KC, a chief magistrate from 1993 to 1996, said the public’s declining respect for the courts was part of a broader growth in mistrust of institutions.

“The reality is that there’s been a noticeable change in society where authority is being perceived more negatively. It’s being seen everywhere; just look at what’s happening in retail,” Papas said.

“Part of it’s driven by the strong commentary in the media – extraordinary commentary – about how judges should be sacked over ‘lenient’ sentences, that we should be able to vote them out. That’s a warning sign for me – where does that take us?”

Anderson, of Court Services Victoria, said the court agency was working with the government in response to the “critical issue”.

“CSV responds to changes in the security environment as a priority to make the courts and VCAT as safe and secure as possible for judicial officers, staff and court users.”

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