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Final Report on Sentence Indication and Specified Sentence Discounts Released

The Attorney-General, the Hon Rob Hulls MP, asked the Council to advise the Government on whether Victoria should introduce a sentence indication scheme. In examining the merits and potential of such a scheme, the Council was to consider what role, if any, a specified sentence discount might play.

Both sentence indication and a specified sentence discount are designed to put defendants who may ultimately plead guilty in a better position to make this decision early in the proceedings. Sentence indication is a process that permits a judicial officer to give a defendant a general indication of the sentence that would be likely to be imposed if the defendant pleaded guilty at that stage of the proceedings. A sentence discount provides an incentive, by way of a reduction in sentence, for pleading guilty at an early stage of the proceedings. A ‘specified sentence discount’ is a law or guideline that specifies the reduction allowed for a guilty plea.

The Final Report 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. However, the Council considered that sentence indication would be unlikely to have a significant impact on the timing of defendants’ plea decisions in the Supreme Court and have recommended against the introduction of such a scheme in that court.

Stakeholder views on the merits of prescribing a specific reduction in sentence for a guilty plea varied considerably. The Council believe there is value in making this aspect of the sentencing process more transparent and have recommended legislating to require Victorian courts to state, when passing sentence, what effect if any, the guilty plea has had on the sentence. However, the Council concluded that providing explicit guidance on the reduction available for a guilty plea would not provide the degree of certainty and consistency needed to justify confining the court’s discretion at sentencing.

The report and summary are available from this website.