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Sentencing from 1990 to 2007-08 (Percentages)

Description

The graph, Sentencing from 1990 to 2007-08 (percentages), presents the percentage of people sentenced in the Victorian Magistrates’ Court by the sentence type imposed from 1990-91 to 2007-08.

Commentary

The introduction of new sentencing options (such as intensive correction orders in 1992 and the criminal justice diversion program in the 2003-04 financial year) has had an impact on sentencing trends in the Magistrates’ Court.
Notable changes in sentencing trends between 1990 and 2007-08 were:

• an increase in wholly and partially suspended sentences from 4% to 7%
• an increase in community based orders from 3% to 5%
• an increase in fines from 43% to 56%
• an increase in people placed on a criminal justice diversion plan from nil to 6%
• a decrease in adjourned undertakings, bonds and fines from 19% to 10%
• • a decrease in discharges, dismissals and licence cancellations/ disqualifications from 27% to 10%. (Please note that this decline is also associated with a change in counting rules because licence cancellation and disqualification were no longer recorded as a sentencing outcome from 1997 onwards).

Explanatory notes

Up until 2001-02, the data collection systems used by the Department of Justice counted selected adjourned undertakings and fines under a single sentence type category. This prevented the Council separating these sentences into discrete categories for analysis until the data collection systems changed in 2001-02 such that all sentence types were counted separately.

The sentencing statistics of the Magistrates' and Children's Courts that relate to the number of people discharged or dismissed have been revised by the Council to improve the accuracy and reliability of the data. The Council will undertake additional data cleansing in the future and therefore further minor adjustments to the number of defendants discharged or dismissed will occur. Revisions to the data have been performed in consultation with the Department of Justice.

The criminal justice diversion program (CJDP) is not a sentencing outcome but has been included in these data because it represents the way in which a substantial number of people are dealt with in the Magistrates’ Court. The CJDP is a court disposition that provides eligible offenders with the opportunity to avoid conviction by undertaking conditions that will benefit the offender, victim and/or community.

Please refer to Sentence Classification 1990-91 to 2007-08 for a description of sentence types included in each category.

Source

Courts Statistical Services, Department of Justice (Victoria). Unpublished data.

Data

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Author:	Sentencing Advisory Council
Place of Publication:	Melbourne
Publisher:	Sentencing Advisory Council
Date of Publication:	2008
Number of Pages:	1
Copyright:	State of Victoria, Sentencing Advisory Council, 2008.