For the
majority of people, their first exposure to the Criminal justice system occurs
when they are charged with offences that are dealt with at the Local Court.
This is because most offences committed each year are summary in nature, and as
such are not serious enough to warrant appearances before the District Courts
or the Supreme Court. Therefore, it is important that defendants (i.e. those
charged with an offence) understand the broad range of penalties that are
available to Magistrates at the Local Courts, when they sentence someone on the
basis of various sentencing principles. The sentencing options available to the
Local Courts Magistrates are:
Fines
Fines are
the most commonly imposed in addition to Good Behaviour Bonds. The defendant’s
current financial circumstances and other relevant considerations may be taken
into account by the Local Court when determining the size of the fine. Once a
defendant has been ordered to pay a fine, they are given a maximum of 28 days
to pay the amount in full, but the court registry can extend this if the
offender is not able to pay within the time period. However, if a defendant
refuses to pay a court-ordered fine, it may possibly result in the seizure of
assets, wage deductions, an order of community service, or in relation to
traffic fines, suspension or cancellation of their driver’s licence or vehicle
registration.
Good Bonds
These
bonds obligate defendants to be of good behaviour, and the court may also
impose further conditions that must be complied with for the duration of the
bond. These include a condition that the defendant be supervised by an officer
of the Community Corrections Office, for as long as the Service deems it
appropriate. The court may also include a condition that defendants attend
counselling to help treat their alcohol or drug-abuse problem, or defendants
may be ordered to reside at a rehabilitation centre to receive more intensive
treatment.
There are
a wide variety of bonds available in the Local Court, such as the bond stated
in section 9 of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW),
which allows Magistrates to direct offenders to enter into a good behaviour
bond for less than five years, after convicting them of an offence. If the
conditions of the section 9 bond are breached or the defendant commits another
offence, then the Magistrate may cancel the bond and impose a sentence. There
are also section 11 bonds, which allow Magistrates to find an offender guilty
of an offence, but suspend the sentence for a period of 12 months, in order to
assess their capacity and prospects for rehabilitation, to demonstrate that
rehabilitation has taken place or for any other reason the court considers
appropriate in the circumstances.
Dismissal and conditional
discharge under Section 10
Section
10 of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 gives the
court the discretion to find a person guilty of an offence, but nonetheless
discharge that person without proceeding to conviction. Because there is no
conviction recorded, a major benefit of section 10 is that it means that the
defendant will not have a criminal record. The court will take into account the
person’s character, antecedents, age, health and mental condition, the trivial
nature of the offence and any other extenuating circumstances when determining
whether to grant an outright dismissal.
Intensive
Correction Orders (ICOs)
ICOs are an alternative to a sentence of imprisonment
that can be made when a court is satisfied that no sentence other than full
time imprisonment is appropriate for an offender, and that the sentence is
likely to be for a period of 2 years or less.
Instead of entering full time custody, offenders
subject to ICOs are managed in the community by the Community Corrections
division of Corrective Services NSW. The two major components of ICOs are:
· supervision
by a Community Corrections Officer, whereby the offender's behaviour is
monitored and their rehabilitative needs are addressed; and
· community
service work, whereby the offender undertakes 32 hours of unpaid work in the community each month.
Suspended sentences under
Section 12
A Local
Court that imposes a sentence of imprisonment on an offender of a period less
than two years, has the option of making an order suspending the whole of that
sentence for the duration of its term. The court can then specify in the order
that as a condition of their release from custody, the offender must enter into
a good behavior bond for the term of the sentence, to prevent the sentence of
imprisonment coming into effect. However, it is important to understand that
suspended sentences should not be perceived as an alternative to custodial
sentences. This is because under section 12 of the Crimes (Sentencing
Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW) a sentence cannot be suspended until it has
actually been imposed- it is only the execution of the sentence that is
suspended. However, suspended sentences are not available to offenders where
they are also subject to another sentence of imprisonment. Also, if the Local
Court decides to later revoke the sentence for any reason, it may choose to re-impose
the original sentence of imprisonment on the offender, which can be served
full-time, part-time or through home-detention. The court is obligated to
revoke the order if there is a breach of the bond under section 98(3), unless
it is satisfied the offender’s failure to comply with the conditions of the
bond was “trivial in nature”, or the offender had a valid reason.
Full-time Imprisonment /Home
Detention
Full-time
imprisonment should always be the sentence of last resort for courts, with the
maximum available term of imprisonment that can be sentenced in Local Courts
being two years. Home detention may also be an option.
If you have questions on sentencing options or anything else, please
contact any of our Solicitors at Matthews Williams.