The Government has announced several reforms to sentencing — intended to bring about tougher punishment for people convicted of crime.
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith said the reforms would ensure criminals face serious consequences for their actions.
He said there had been a 33% increase in violent crime while there had been a “concerning” trend where the courts have imposed fewer and shorter prison sentences.
The reforms including capping the sentence discounts which judges could apply at 40% and preventing repeat discounts for youth or remorse.
The reform also added a new aggravating factor for offences against sole charge workers and those whose home and business were connected; encouraged the use of cumulative sentencing for offences committed while on bail in custody or on parole; implemented a sliding scale for early guilty pleas; and amended the principles of sentencing.
“These reforms clearly signal an expectation that appropriate consequences are imposed, and the needs of victims are prioritised,” Goldsmith added.
“Judges will of course continue to have discretion to consider the individual circumstances of each case to ensure sentencing does not lead to manifestly unjust outcomes.”
Prioritising the needs of victims
This afternoon, the Justice Minister said increasingly serious crime has been coming before the courts — only for the outcomes to disappoint the victims of crime and undermining confidence in the system.
“The response has been counter-intuitive, a reduction and the use of imprisonment and shorter prison sentences overall to the dismay of many victims.
“I’m concerned undue leniency is resulting in a loss of public confidence in sentencing.”
Goldsmith added the concerns and needs which many victim groups have had “haven’t been really taken into account into the court processes”.
“One of the purposes of the sentencing regime is to denounce the [criminal] act,” he said.
“If you’re being convicted of a serious sexual crime for example, the outcome of that is a home detention sentence, well, I can very well understand why the victims of that crime don’t feel like their concerns are being properly met.
“That’s why we’ll try to get the regime tougher through this process.”