Sentencing Reform Resources

On Monday 24 September 2018, very substantial changes to sentencing options commenced. The changes involve the abolition of s.9 bonds, Community Service Orders, Home Detention Orders, s.10(1)(b) bonds and s.12 bonds (suspended sentences).

A new form of Intensive Correction Order (ICO), as well as two completely new sentencing orders were introduced: Community Correction Orders (CCO) and Conditional Release Orders (CRO). Many existing sentences were automatically converted into one of the new orders.

The main amendments were to the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 and theCrimes (Administration of Sentences) Act 1999.

View the amending legislation.

Resources

To assist practitioners, we have assembled resources including an overview of the changes, some references and helpful links:

• Sentencing Bench Book - Community-based orders generally
• Quick reference guide to sentencing reforms - Updated 12 March 2019 (PDF, 115.2 KB)
• Second reading speech (PDF, 165.3 KB)
• New South Wales Law Reform Commission, Sentencing, Report 139 (2013)
• Clare Ringland and Don Weatherburn, 'The impact of intensive correction orders on re-offending' (2013) 176 Crime and Justice Bulletin 1
• Joanna JJ Wang and Suzanne Poynton, 'Intensive correction orders versus short prison sentence: A comparison of re-offending' (2017) 207 Crime and Justice Bulletin
• Department of Justice information page