NCJ Number
208409
Date Published
December 2004
Length
15 pages
Annotation
This article discusses the use of sentencing statistics in the judicial process in New South Wales.
Abstract
The Judicial Commission in New South Wales developed and maintains the Judicial Information Research System (JIRS), which electronically stores legal and statistical information on the Commission's intranet site. The purpose of the JIRS is to provide access to relevant information to guide decisionmaking within the judicial process. Much of the JIRS is devoted to sentencing information divided into three subsets: Children's Court Statistics, Local Court Statistics, and Higher Courts Statistics. The sentencing statistics are derived from court records and represent outcomes of the "principal offense." A database of the Court of Criminal Appeal sentencing decisions is maintained to provide corrections whenever sentences are quashed or varied by the higher courts. The JIRS offers a user-friendly environment in which a wide range of options allow users to specify exactly the type of statistical information they seek. Next, the article focuses on the purpose of sentencing statistics, including their influence over judicial discretion and the contribution they make toward judicial accountability and consistency. One limitation of sentencing statistics is that each case is unique and no set of statistics can reliably dictate an appropriate sentence in any one case. Thus, when sentencing statistics are applied, they are best considered among a multitude of other information informing the case outcome. Figures, footnotes