Mandatory Sentencing Papers Released
Today the Sentencing Advisory Council released two papers looking at the issue of mandatory sentencing. The papers aim to inform people about mandatory sentencing, which is an ongoing topic of debate in the community.
Sentencing Matters: Mandatory Sentencing is a research paper that offers an in-depth analysis of various mandatory sentencing regimes and other types of sentencing systems, including the current Victorian sentencing system. The paper examines the extent to which mandatory sentencing schemes have been able to achieve their aims, and provides a detailed discussion of the social and economic costs of such schemes.
The Mandatory Sentencing Information Paper considers the central aims of mandatory sentencing schemes–to increase both the severity and the consistency of sentences. The paper looks at two case studies to demonstrate how current Victorian law deals with the issues of leniency and inconsistency and how these cases could be dealt with differently under various mandatory sentencing schemes.
The views expressed in each paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Council or its individual members.
Both papers are available for download from this website or copies are available by contacting the Sentencing Advisory Council.