Jump to content

Sentencing Advisory Council

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by WikiCleanerBot (talk | contribs) at 08:31, 19 October 2023 (v2.05b - Bot T20 CW#61 - Fix errors for CW project (Reference before punctuation)). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

The Sentencing Advisory Council of Victoria is an independent statutory body that was established by the Victorian Government in 2004 to conduct research on sentencing in Victoria, Australia.[1] The Council comprises a board of between 11 and 14 directors, who are supported by a secretariat. In Australia, there are also sentencing councils in New South Wales,[2] Queensland[3] and Tasmania.[4] There are also Sentencing Councils in some overseas jurisdictions, such as England and Wales[5] and Scotland[6]

History of the Council

In 2000, the Victorian Government requested a review of aspects of Victoria's sentencing laws, which was undertaken by Professor Arie Frieberg. The 2002 report arising out of that review, Pathways to Justice,[7] recommended a number of improvements to Victoria's sentencing system, including the establishment of a Victorian Sentencing Advisory Council. That legislation was passed in 2003 and the Council formally came into operation in 2004. Professor Frieberg was the inaugural Chair of the Council from 2004 to his retirement in 2022[8] and was also the Chair of the Tasmanian Sentencing Advisory Council until 2021.[9]

Functions of the Council

The functions of the Council are outlined in legislation,[10] and include:

  • providing statistical information on sentencing to the judiciary and other interested persons
  • conducting research on sentencing matters
  • gauging public opinion on sentencing matters
  • consulting with government departments, the general community and other interested persons on sentencing matters
  • advising the Attorney-General on sentencing matters
  • providing written views in the event that the Court of Appeal is developing a guideline judgment.

Council Directors

The directors of the Council come from a diverse background of experiences in order to represent the views of the community as well as experts in issues relating to sentencing. The legislation establishing the Council outlines a number of specific experiences or qualifications that directors must have in order to be nominated by the Attorney-General and then appointed by the Governor. Those experiences or qualifications include:[11][12]

  • two people with experience in community issues affecting courts
  • a person with experience as a senior member of the academic staff of a tertiary institution
  • a person who is a member of a victim of crime support or advocacy group
  • a person involved in the management of a victim of crime support group or advocacy group and who is a victim of crime or representative of victims of crime
  • a police officer of the rank of senior sergeant or below
  • a highly experienced prosecution lawyer
  • a highly experienced defence lawyer
  • others with experience in the operation of the criminal justice system.

Sentencing statistics

The Council provides statistical information on sentencing to assist courts and legal practitioners. Courts must consider current sentencing practices, which include both relevant sentencing statistics and sentences imposed in comparable cases, when deciding an appropriate sentence.

The statistics published by the Council also provide insights on sentencing trends and characteristics of sentenced offenders and are used by media, researchers, policy makers, students and the general community.[13]

The Council publishes sentencing statistics in a variety of formats, including in research reports, in Sentencing Snapshots,[14] and in an online statistics database (SACStat).

Research reports

Since it was established in 2004, the Council has published well over 100 research reports. The reports have covered a range of topics related to sentencing, including:

  • sentencing practices for certain offences, such as driving whilst disqualified or suspended,[15] causing serious injury or death while driving,[16] homicide,[17] theft,[18] possessing, cultivating or trafficking drugs,[19] breaching family violence orders,[20] breaching non-family violence orders,[21] armed robbery,[22] intentionally or recklessly causing serious injury,[23] aggravated burglary,[24] sex offences,[25] breaches of court orders,[26] animal cruelty offences,[27] firearms offences,[28] image-based sexual abuse offences,[29] threat offences[30] and stalking[31]
  • jurisprudential issues, such as the relevance of deportation[32] and adverse media coverage[33] to sentencing
  • appropriate penalty levels for certain offences, such as repeat drink driving,[34] negligently causing serious injury,[35] preparatory offences,[36] and sex offences[37]
  • the appropriateness and use of certain sentencing orders generally, such as time served prison sentences,[38] suspended sentences,[39] community orders,[40] imprisonment,[41] and fines[42]
  • the appropriateness and use of sentencing orders for specific offenders, such as high-risk offenders,[43] children and young adults,[44] older offenders,[45] and family violence offenders[46]
  • a statistical profile of Victoria’s prison population[47]
  • appeals against sentences in Victoria[48]
  • reoffending rates (recidivism) in Victoria[49]
  • other issues relating to sentencing, such as sentence indications,[50] sentencing guidance,[51] community views on sentencing,[52] changes to sentencing law,[53] parole,[54] mandatory sentencing,[55] sentencing of offences motivated by hatred or prejudice,[56] sentencing of offenders in the Koori Court,[57] provocation,[58] gender differences in sentencing outcomes,[59] guilty pleas,[60] and restitution and compensation orders.[61]

References from the Attorney-General

One of the Council’s statutory functions is to advise the Attorney-General on sentencing matters. Over the years, Victoria’s Attorney-General has given the Council terms of reference seeking its advice on a range of topics, such as the sentencing of family violence offenders,[62] reforms to restitution and compensation orders[63] and the introduction of a sentencing guidelines council.[64] The Council’s responses to terms of reference have resulted in significant changes to Victorian sentencing laws, including changes to maximum penalties for offences such as negligently causing serious injury[65] and breaches of intervention orders,[66] the abolition of suspended sentences,[67] the introduction of a sentence indication scheme[68] and the addition of hatred and prejudice as an aggravating factor that courts must take into account in sentencing.[69]

Community education

The Council conducts a number of community engagement activities in order to promote community understanding of sentencing. These include hosting an online interactive sentencing simulation known as ‘Virtual You be the Judge’,[70] presenting face-to-face community education sessions for adults, developing and publishing teaching materials and lesson plans for secondary teachers and students,[71] and developing and publishing plain-language guides to sentencing law and practice.[72]

References

  1. ^ "Sentencing Amendment Act 2003 (Vic)" (PDF). 6 May 2003.
  2. ^ ‘NSW Sentencing Council’. NSW Government.
  3. ^ ‘Queensland Sentencing Advisory Council’. Queensland Sentencing Advisory Council.
  4. ^ ‘The Sentencing Advisory Council’. Tasmanian Sentencing Advisory Council.
  5. ^ ‘Sentencing Council’. Sentencing Council for England and Wales.
  6. ^ ‘Scottish Sentencing Council’. Scottish Sentencing Council.
  7. ^ Arie Freiberg, Pathways to Justice: Sentencing Review (2002).
  8. ^ ’Retirement Of Sentencing Advisory Council Chair', Premier of Victoria (2022).
  9. ^ ‘About the Sentencing Advisory Council’. Tasmanian Sentencing Advisory Council.
  10. ^ Sentencing Act 1991 (Vic) s 108C.
  11. ^ Sentencing Act 1991 (Vic) s 108F.
  12. ^ ‘About Us’, Victorian Sentencing Advisory Council.
  13. ^ ‘Think twice before demanding harsher sentences for child sex offenders’. Sydney Morning Herald; ‘Our prisons are a manifest failure. Would that be tolerated in any other public system?’. The Guardian Australia. Octavian Simu and Paul McGorrery, ‘Judging Statistics’ (2021) 95(8) Law Institute Journal 38-41. ‘Victorian election: why ‘tough on crime’ has failed the crucial test’. The Guardian Australia.
  14. ^ ‘Think twice before demanding harsher sentences for child sex offenders’. Sydney Morning Herald; ‘Sentencing snapshots’. Victorian Bar.
  15. ^ Sentencing Advisory Council, Driving While Disqualified or Suspended: Report (2009)
  16. ^ Sentencing Advisory Council, Major Driving Offences: Current Sentencing Practices (2015)
  17. ^ Sentencing Advisory Council, Homicide in Victoria: Offenders, Victims and Sentencing (2007)
  18. ^ Sentencing Advisory Council, Sentencing Outcomes for Theft in the Magistrates’ Court in Victoria: A Statistical Profile (2008); Sentencing Advisory Council, Theft: Sentencing Outcomes in the Magistrates’ Court of Victoria (2017).
  19. ^ Nguyen v The Queen [2016] VSCA 198 [237]-[239]; ; ‘Ice action plan needed now more than ever’. Premier of Victoria; Parliament of Victoria – Legal and Social Issues Committee, Inquiry into the use of cannabis in Victoria (2021), 134–135
  20. ^ ‘More prison sentences for people who breach family violence orders in Victoria as police crack down on perpetrators’. ABC News.
  21. ^ ‘Schoolyard bullying disputes playing out in court’. Herald Sun.
  22. ^ Sentencing Advisory Council, Sentencing for Armed Robbery: A Statistical Profile (2010).
  23. ^ Zammit v The Queen [2012] VSCA 216 [29].
  24. ^ Hogarth v The Queen [2012] VSCA 302 [52]-[57].
  25. ^ Dalgliesh (A Pseudonym) v The Queen [2016] VSCA 148 [87];  ‘New data shows sex offenders in Victoria are going to prison for longer’. The Conversation.
  26. ^ Sentencing Advisory Council, Secondary Offences in Victoria (2017).
  27. ^ ‘Snapshot of animal cruelty offenders in Victoria’. ABC Radio National; ‘New report shines light on who commits animal cruelty and how they are punished’. The Conversation.
  28. ^ ‘Prison popular activity for Vic gun crime’. The Canberra Times.
  29. ^ ‘Majority of convictions for 'revenge porn' are linked to family violence, major study finds — but that's not the full picture’. ABC News.
  30. ^ Sentencing Advisory Council, Threat Offences in Victoria: Sentencing Outcomes and Reoffending (2021).
  31. ^ Sentencing Advisory Council, Sentencing Stalking in Victoria (2022).
  32. ^ Sentencing Advisory Council, Deportation and Sentencing: An Emerging Area of Jurisprudence (2019); Ellen Moore, ‘Sentencing “Crimmigrants”: How Migration Law Creates a Different Criminal Law for Non-citizens’ (2020) 43(4) University of New South Wales Law Journal (Advance).
  33. ^ ‘Queensland bans 'claim farming'; should media coverage affect sentencing decisions?’ ABC Radio National.
  34. ^ Sentencing Advisory Council, Maximum Penalties for Repeat Drink Driving: Report (2005).
  35. ^ Sentencing Advisory Council, Maximum Penalty for Negligent Causing Serious Injury: Report (2007).
  36. ^ Sentencing Advisory Council, Review of Maximum Penalties for Preparatory Offences: Report (2007).
  37. ^ Sentencing Advisory Council, Maximum Penalties for Sexual Penetration with a Child under 16: Report (2009).
  38. ^ Parliament of Victoria: Legal and Social Issues Committee, Inquiry into Victoria’s criminal justice system (2022) 56.
  39. ^ Sentencing Advisory Council, Suspended Sentences: Final Report Part 1 (2006); Sentencing Advisory Council, Suspended Sentences and Intermediate Sentencing Orders: Suspended Sentences – Final Report Part 2 (2008).
  40. ^ Sentencing Advisory Council, Community Correction Orders in the Higher Courts: Imposition, Duration, and Conditions (2014); Sentencing Advisory Council, Community Correction Orders: Monitoring Report (2014); Sentencing Advisory Council, Community Correction Orders: Second Monitoring Report (Pre-Guideline Judgment) (2015); Sentencing Advisory Council, Community Correction Orders: Third Monitoring Report (Post-Guideline Judgment) (2016).
  41. ^ ‘Crime and punishment and rehabilitation: a smarter approach’. The Conversation; ‘Mandatory sentences can’t deliver justice or stop one-punch killings’. The Conversation; Sentencing Advisory Council, How Much Does Imprisonment Protect the Community through Incapacitation? (2012).
  42. ^ ‘Unpaid fines: Victorian Government missing out on millions of dollars in revenue, report finds’. ABC News.
  43. ^ Sentencing Advisory Council, High-Risk Offenders: Continued Detention and Supervision Options: Final Report (2006).
  44. ^ Parliament of Victoria: Legal and Social Issues Committee, Inquiry into Victoria’s criminal justice system (2022) 57, 63, 98, 113, 127;  Commission for Children and Young People, Keep caring: Systematic inquiry into services for young people transitioning from out-of-home care (2020) 46; Commission for Children and Young People, Out of Sight: Systemic Inquiry into Children and Young People who are Absent or Missing from Residential Care (2021); ‘Hardcore 180 responsible for almost one in four youth crimes statistics show’. The Age;  ‘Child protection: protecting vulnerable children’. Law Institute of Victoria; ‘Two-thirds of children held on remand aren’t ultimately sentenced to detention: New Sentencing Advisory Council report'. Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare; ‘Australia’s anguish: the Indigenous kids trapped behind bars’. The Guardian Australia; ‘Australian governments accused of hiding evidence supporting lift in age of criminal responsibility’. The Guardian Australia; ‘Stop the empty gestures and start listening to First Nations people. We are the experts’. The Guardian Australia; ‘Locking up children is a national shame and a waste of money’. The Age.
  45. ^ ‘Age no barrier for justice’. Shepparton News.
  46. ^ ‘Victorian courts should expand their supervision of family violence offenders’. The Conversation.
  47. ^ Parliament of Victoria: Legal and Social Issues Committee, Inquiry into Victoria’s criminal justice system (2022) 45.
  48. ^ Sentencing Advisory Council, Sentence Appeals in Victoria: Statistical Research Report (2012); Sentencing Advisory Council, Sentence Appeals in Victoria: Second Statistical Research Report (2018).
  49. ^ Sentencing Advisory Council, Recidivism of Sex Offenders: Research Paper (2007); Sentencing Advisory Council, ‘Reoffending rates high among jailed criminals new Sentencing Advisory Council report shows’. Herald Sun; Sentencing Advisory Council, Reoffending Following Sentence in Victoria: A Statistical Profile (2015); Natalia Antolak-Saper, ‘The adultification of the youth justice system: The Victorian experience’ (2020) 37(1) 99; Sentencing Advisory Council, Contravention of Family Violence Intervention Orders and Safety Notices: Prior Offences and Reoffending (2016); Sentencing Advisory Council, Serious Offending by People Serving a Community Correction Order: 2019–20 (2021).
  50. ^ Sentencing Advisory Council, Sentencing Indication and Specified Sentence Discounts: Final Report (2007).
  51. ^ ‘Government seeks baseline sentencing review’. Premier of Victoria;  ‘Victorian community to have its say on sentencing’. Premier of Victoria; ‘The complexities of sentencing’. ABC Radio National.
  52. ^ Sentencing Advisory Council, Myths and Misconceptions: Public Opinion versus Public Judgment about Sentencing (2006); Sentencing Advisory Council, Measuring Public Opinion About Sentencing (2008); Sentencing Advisory Council, Dalgliesh (A Pseudonym) v The Queen [2016] VSCA 148 [44];  ‘Public opinion about sentencing: a research overview’. Analysis & Policy Observatory.
  53. ^ Sentencing Advisory Council, Changes to Sentencing Law in Victoria: An Overview of 2018 (2018).
  54. ^ Sentencing Advisory Council, Sentencing, Parole Cancellation and Confiscation Orders: Report (2009); Sentencing Advisory Council, Review of the Victorian Adult Parole System: Report (2012); ‘Victorian judges no longer relying on parole system, report finds’. The Guardian Australia.
  55. ^ 'Mandatory sentencing: does it reduce crime?’ ABC News; ‘Mandatory minimum sentences and populist criminal justice policy do not work – here’s why’. The Conversation.
  56. ^ Gail Mason and Andrew Dyer, ‘“A negation of Australia’s fundamental values”: Sentencing prejudice-motivated crime’ (2013) 36(3) Melbourne University Law Review 872.
  57. ^ ‘Sentencing in the Koori Court Division of the Magistrates’ Court: a statistical report’. Indigenous Justice Clearinghouse; Justice Stephen Kaye, ‘The complexity of sentencing Koori offenders’.
  58. ^ Sentencing Advisory Council, Provocation in Sentencing Research Report (2009).
  59. ^ Sentencing Advisory Council, Gender Differences in Sentencing Outcomes (2010).
  60. ^ ‘Why it pays to plead guilty: discount for serious crimes revealed’. The Age.
  61. ^ Sentencing Advisory Council, Restitution and Compensation Orders: Report (2018).
  62. ^ Swift, Certain and Fair Approaches to Sentencing Family Violence Offenders: Report, 2017
  63. ^ Sentencing Advisory Council, Restitution and Compensation Orders: Report, 2018
  64. ^ Sentencing Advisory Council, A Sentencing Guidelines Council for Victoria: Report, 2018
  65. ^ Parliament of Victoria, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Council, Fifty-Sixth Parliament, First Session, Wednesday, 12 March 2008, p. 687
  66. ^ Parliament of Victoria, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Council, Fifty-Sixth Parliament, First Session, Friday, 12 September 2008, p. 3819
  67. ^ Parliament of Victoria, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Council, Fifty-Sixth Parliament, First Session, Questions on Notice, Thursday, 26 February 2009, p. 1039
  68. ^ Parliament of Victoria, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, Fifty-Seventh Parliament, First Session, p. 3152
  69. ^ Parliament of Victoria, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Council, Fifty-Sixth Parliament, First Session, Tuesday, 24 November 2009, pp.5558
  70. ^ Dennis Byles and Chris Gill, ‘Citizen Judges’ (2014) 88(12) Law Institute Journal 52.
  71. ^ ‘Legal studies resources’. Victoria Law Foundation.
  72. ^ Sentencing Advisory Council, A Quick Guide to Sentencing (5th edition, 2021).
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sentencing_Advisory_Council&oldid=1180861365"