NCJ Number
114633
Date Published
1988
Length
203 pages
Annotation
This report presents the Australian Law Reform Commission's assessment of sentencing in Federal and Australian Capital Territory courts, including recommendations for improved sentencing in these courts.
Abstract
This assessment is guided by the principles that sentencing should be just while including rehabilitative and restitutionary goals. Inhumane or cruel punishments must be abolished, incapacitation and general deterrence should not be sentencing goals, and punishment must be consistently applied. One major theme of the report is reduction in the use of imprisonment through such techniques as the elimination of prescribed minimum periods of imprisonment, the development of a wide range of noncustodial orders, an increase in the use of fines, and the use of civil enforcement rather than imprisonment as a sanction for fine defaults. Another theme of the report is truth in sentencing, i.e., making clear in the sentence itself how much prison time and parole time are to be served. The commission recommends a custodial order that encompasses both imprisonment and parole. Another theme of the report is the structuring of laws and procedures associated with the sentencing decision so as to enhance sentencing consistency. Other issues addressed in the report are prison conditions, prisoners' rights, sentencing for special categories of offenders (mentally disordered, female offenders, juvenile offenders, and habitual offenders), and the implications of the commission's recommendations for criminal justice system resources. Chapter footnotes, appended legislation, tables of cases and legislation, subject index, 120-item bibliography.