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Make Guilty Plea Discounts Clear, Calls Council

19 Sept 07

A report released today by the Sentencing Advisory Council recommends changes to the law requiring Victorian courts to state the effect a guilty plea has on sentence. The report also details a model for piloting a sentence indication scheme in the County Court.

The Final Report is the Council’s response to a reference from the Attorney-General, the Hon Rob Hulls, MP, requesting the Council’s advice on the merits of introducing a formal sentence indication process, and specified sentence discounts for defendants who plead guilty.

Council Chair, Professor Arie Freiberg, said “We found that many people in the community were unaware that the law already allows courts to reduce a sentence if a person pleads guilty. There was very clear support across all sectors, including the courts themselves, to change the law to require judges and magistrates to state what effect, if any, the guilty plea had on the final sentence.”

The Council has recommended, however, that specified discounts – that would require a court to apply a set discount relative to the timing of the plea – should not be introduced. “We looked at specified discount models overseas and interstate, but found in our consultations that people generally preferred the flexibility of a discretionary model,” said Professor Arie Freiberg.

“We believe the reforms we are proposing will put defendants in a better position to make their plea decisions early, without improperly inducing them to plead guilty or resulting in an overly lenient sentence.”

The Final Report also recommends the Government legislate to formalise the sentence indication scheme which already operates in the Magistrates’ Court and to allow the County Court to pilot the use of sentence indication in indictable cases. Sentence indication is a process that allows a magistrate or judge to give defendants an early indication of the type of sentence they are likely to receive if they plead guilty.

“We believe that providing defendants in the County Court with a general indication of whether they are likely to go to prison if they plead guilty will help resolve some of the contested cases without the need for a trial,” said Professor Freiberg.

“There were concerns about ending up with American style “bargained justice”. The model we’re proposing would give a limited form of indication to defendants and would not allow room for bartering. In the County Court the indication will be restricted to whether or not an immediate prison sentence is likely to be imposed.”

“Our proposals are both principled and practical, and will lead to guilty pleas being dealt with by the courts in a more open and transparent manner. We believe these initiatives may resolve some of the concerns that cause defendants to defer entering a guilty plea. This won’t solve the problem of delay in the Courts but it will contribute in a positive way to resolving more cases faster, without compromising the fairness of the outcome,” said Professor Freiberg.