New Snapshots on Magistrates' Court Sentencing
Today the Sentencing Advisory Council released the first of our Sentencing Snapshots that focus on offences in the Magistrates’ Court of Victoria.
After publishing almost fifty snapshots on offences in the higher courts, the release of Magistrates’ Court data represents a significant and important step forward in the Council’s work on providing statistical information on sentencing to the judiciary and to the broader community.
The first three Sentencing Snapshots in this series are on indecent assault, indecent act with a child under 16 and knowingly possess child pornography.
The reports contain previously unpublished statistics on sentence outcomes in the Magistrates’ Court of Victoria for the three years between July 2004 and June 2007, as well as the age and gender of people sentenced for each of the offences.
They also contain several new features, including a ‘Sentencing Map’, which provides an overview of the sentencing outcome and the quantum of each outcome in one graph.
Data in these Snapshots reveal:
- 310 people were sentenced for the principal offence of indecent assault. The offenders were almost all male (99%) and they covered a wide range of ages (from 18 to 83). 28% of people received a community-based order, 28% received a fine and 9% were sentenced to a term of imprisonment.
- The court sentenced 186 people for the principal offence of indecent act with a child under 16. Most people received a non-custodial sentence (53.2%), including 29% receiving a community-based order. A term of imprisonment was imposed on 19% of people sentenced for this offence.
- 197 people were sentenced for the principal offence of knowingly possess child pornography. All of the offenders were male and aged from 18 to 73. Less than half of the people sentenced for knowingly possess child pornography received a non-custodial sentence (45.7%), including 28% who received a community-based order. 15% were sentenced to imprisonment, 20% received a wholly suspended sentence and 10% received an intensive correction order.