Criminology Research Council grant ; (33/86)
The research from this project has been published in book form under the title Sentencing in Tasmania, the Federation Press, Sydney (1991).
The aim of this project was to provide an exposition of sentencing law in Tasmania and thereby to contribute to the development of the common law of sentencing in Australia.
The organisation of the book closely follows that of Fox and Freiberg's Sentencing, State and Federal Law in Victoria. Its aim is to provide a source that contains a synthesis of the statutory and case law in Tasmania governing the sentencing of offenders and statistical information on the pattern of sentences handed down by the Supreme Court and courts of petty sessions. The book is primarily concerned with state law, but brief reference is also made to sentencing rules relating to Federal offences. In addition to all state and Commonwealth statutory material relevant to sentencing, every written judgment of the Court of Criminal Appeal and the Supreme Court, whether reported or unreported was isolated and analysed.
Chapter 1, the introduction, deals with distribution of sentencing authority, the relationship between Commonwealth and state sentencing law and the interpretation of penalty provisions. Chapter 2 deals with sentencing procedure; the role of counsel, determining the facts for the purpose of sentence and pre-sentence reports. Chapter 3 covers appeals. The basis of appellate review in indictable and summary matters and the powers of appeal courts are discussed.
Chapters 4 to 10 cover sentencing options available under state and Federal law. The statutory provisions and relevant case law are analysed. The long chapter on custodial orders (Chapter 9) includes such issues as concurrent and cumulative prison sentences, 'general sentences', parole and remissions.
Chapter 11, 'General Considerations', is a discussion of the views of the Supreme Court, Court of Criminal Appeal and the High Court as to the aims of punishment and the factors that a court can or should take into account in sentencing. Following Fox and Freiberg, rather than discussing general considerations under the heading of aggravating and mitigating factors, relevant factors are considered under the headings of nature of the offence (such as breach of trust, the victim), nature of the offender (for example, prior offences, age), response to the charges (for example, remorse and plea), effect of sanction (for example, hardship to family) and parity (that is, relevance of co-offenders' sentences).
Chapter 12 deals with the patterns of sentencing for indictable offences prosecuted in the Supreme Court. Thirty tables showing the sentencing ranges for the most common crimes are presented. The tables cover the period 1978-89 for most of the offence categories. Based upon reported and unreported decisions and the comments of judges on passing sentence, factors relevant to a particular offence and the factors in the cases that appear to distinguish the upper and lower ranges of sentence are discussed. All comments on passing sentence for the years 1982-89 were read for this purpose.
Chapter 13 deals with a number of summary offences and indictable offences that can be tried summarily. Based on a statewide sample of sentences imposed in a three-month period, tables give an indication of the range of penalties imposed for offences under the Police Offences Act 1935, summary offences under the Poisons Act 1971, stealing and burglary, and serious traffic offences. This data is supplemented by information extracted from court files for motions to review penalties from 1981-89. The discussion of specific offences is based upon this data and published reasons for decisions. The table showing sentencing ranges for social security fraud is based on offenders sentenced between 1 July 1988 and 30 June 1990.
Tables of cases and statutes and a comprehensive index are included.