NCJ Number
132682
Date Published
1991
Length
27 pages
Annotation
This study analyzes the impact of the New South Wales (Australia) Sentencing Act 1989 on imprisonment sentences in both local and higher courts.
Abstract
The Sentencing Act 1989 supplanted its predecessor, the Probation and Parole Act 1983, largely due to the remissions system authorized under the latter act. Common criticisms were that the remissions system eroded public confidence in the sentencing process and that it allowed unwarranted interference by the Executive in the sentencing discretion of the courts. The Sentencing Act addressed these problems by abolishing the remissions system altogether. It also significantly altered certain other key aspects of the sentencing process, most notably the length of time expected to be served in custody relative to the period to be spent on conditional release. Although the stated intention of the new act was not to make sentences longer, this could only be avoided if the courts responded to the abolition of remissions by imposing shorter custodial terms. One reason for expecting just such an effect was the fact the introduction of remissions yielded a general increase in the average length of imprisonment. To determine the impact of the new act, this study reviewed sentencing in local and higher courts before and after the Sentencing Act. The study found that neither the local nor higher courts have reacted to the abolition of remissions by shortening minimum custodial periods. The result is likely to be an increase in the size of the New South Wales prison population. 2 tables, 4 figures, and 20 notes