NCJ Number
173463
Date Published
1996
Length
35 pages
Annotation
The Sentencing Act of 1989 was enacted to ensure prisoners in New South Wales remain in custody for the full length of time imposed by the sentencing judge or magistrate, and its impact on the size of the prison population was assessed.
Abstract
The act abolished the system of remissions that had existed in New South Wales since colonial times, whereby most prisoners were released before the expiration of their sentences. In analyzing the impact of the act on the prison population, it was assumed the size of the prison population was a function of both rate of entry and length of stay. Between 1988-1989 and 1993-1994, the average daily population of full-time prisoners in New South Wales rose by 47.4 percent. The total cleared crime rate, calculated per 100,000 population, rose steadily between 1981 and 1990 but was relatively stable after 1990. The remand population decreased as a proportion of the total prison population, from a high of 15.5 percent in 1988 to a low of 9.2 percent in 1995. Sentenced reception numbers were heavily influenced by changes in the practice of incarcerating fine defaulters, but the average daily prison population was not significantly affected by the fluctuating population of fine defaulters. The number of offenders sentenced to full-time custody dropped from 7,603 in 1991-1992 to 7,121 in 1994-1995, reflecting a decrease in the number of cases finalized each year across jurisdictions. Between 1990 and 1995, an underlying pattern of very limited growth followed by a gradual fall in the number of persons sentenced to full-time custody was apparent. The number of sentenced offenders entering full-time custody fell steadily after 1991. The median sentence length imposed by courts was greater in the 1980s than in the early 1990s, but the average sentence length did not change significantly after 1990. Factors that led to an increase in the average real time each prisoner spent in full- time custody are considered. Data on serious offense types for sentenced prisoners are appended. 49 references, 75 footnotes, 1 table, and 11 figures