The Council is currently working on:
- Occupational Health and Safety Offences
- Children Who Offend Aged 10 to 13
- Victoria's Prison Population
- Sentencing Commonwealth Offences
- Virtual You be the Judge
- Diversion
Occupational Health and Safety Offences
The Victorian Government has provided the Sentencing Advisory Council with terms of reference to examine the sentencing of occupational health and safety (OHS) offences and make relevant recommendations for reform.
In undertaking the review, we were asked to:
- examine sentencing practices for OHS offences
- consult with stakeholders and the community
- consider whether sentencing practices align with community expectations
- consider the role of injured workers and their families in sentencing proceedings and
- examine the enforcement of sentencing orders, especially payment rates for court fines.
We were asked to deliver our final report by 31 December 2024. In late 2024, we delivered our final report to the Attorney-General and Minister for WorkSafe and the TAC.
The final report will be published on our website in early 2025.
The Focus of Our Review
The review focuses on sentencing outcomes for offences contrary to the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 (Vic), the primary legislation regulating OHS in Victoria. The most common offences against that Act involve employers who fail to take reasonably practicable steps to ensure the safety of employees and members of the public.
We separately examined OHS offences committed by both companies and individuals. This is because companies and individuals are subject to different maximum penalties and different sentencing considerations.
Consultation Paper, Statistical Report and Plain Language Summary
On 13 February 2024, we published a consultation paper with a plain language summary, as well as a statistical report, on sentencing OHS offences.
The statistical report examined:
- sentencing data from the courts, including outcomes of sentence appeals
- sentencing remarks from the courts in OHS cases
- prosecution summaries of OHS cases from WorkSafe
- fine payment data from Fines Victoria, WorkSafe and the courts.
The consultation paper posed 19 questions about potential areas for reform, seeking stakeholder and community views.
We called for written submissions via email and Engage Victoria. Public submissions received are available on our website. We also hosted a series of community consultations around Victoria in February and March 2024, and consulted key stakeholders on draft recommendations in August and September 2024.
Children Who Offend Aged 10 to 13
The Council is preparing a sentencing profile of children who offend while aged 10 to 13.
The project will examine court outcomes for all children who offended while aged 10 to 13 and who were sentenced or diverted in any Victorian court in the 10 years to 30 June 2021. This includes people sentenced as adults for offending committed while aged 10 to 13.
Among other things, the project will examine:
- the number of people sentenced each year for offences committed while aged 10 to 13
- their gender
- whether they were sentenced in Melbourne or regional Victoria
- the types of offences they committed
- the sentencing outcomes they received.
Victoria's Prison Population
The Council is preparing a profile of Victoria's prison population in the 20 years to 30 June 2024. This project will provide an update to three previous reports that investigated trends in Victoria's prison population in 2007, 2013 and 2016.
This project will examine, among other things:
- the number and demographics of people in prison each year
- how many people in prison are serving a sentence and how many are held on remand
- the lengths of custodial sentences imposed in Victorian courts and
- trends in sentence lengths imposed for specific offences.
Sentencing Commonwealth Offences
Currently, the public only has access to limited statistical information about the sentencing of Commonwealth offences in Australia. Our SACStat database includes outcomes for some Commonwealth offences sentenced in Victorian higher courts (the County and Supreme Courts), and as of August 2024, the Queensland Sentencing Advisory Council’s Sentencing Datahub includes some Commonwealth offences sentenced in that state. Previously, the public could access federal sentencing data using the National Judicial College’s Commonwealth Sentencing Database, but that database was decommissioned in early 2024.
Incorporating Federal Sentencing Data into SACStat
The Council is currently updating SACStat to incorporate sentencing data for Commonwealth offences in both the higher courts and the Magistrates’ Court. Our aim is to provide a comprehensive account of sentencing for Commonwealth offences in Victoria. The federal sentencing data will also reflect the unique sentencing orders available for Commonwealth offences.
A Statistical Profile of Commonwealth Offences Sentenced in Victoria
In addition to our work on SACStat, the Council is preparing a statistical report on Commonwealth offences sentenced in Victoria during the five years to 30 June 2023. The report will include, among other things:
- the number of people sentenced for Commonwealth offences each year
- the Commonwealth offences people were sentenced for
- the prosecuting agency in each of those cases
- sentencing outcomes for Commonwealth offences
- a detailed examination of sentencing outcomes for common Commonwealth offences, such as using a carriage service to menace, harass or offend.
Virtual You be the Judge
Our Virtual You be the Judge online application educates the public about sentencing by putting people in the position of a sentencing judge. Building on our popular You be the Judge format for in-person educational sessions, the application uses real-life case studies to help people understand the sentencing process and, at an introductory level, how Victorian courts make sentencing decisions. Currently, thousands of people, especially high school students, use Virtual You be the Judge each year to learn about sentencing.
There have been significant advancements and changes in technology, sentencing law, and sentencing practices since the Council launched Virtual You be the Judge in October 2010. In 2023, the Victorian Legal Services Board + Commissioner generously provided the Council with dedicated funding to rebuild Virtual You be the Judge. The application will include entirely new case studies and a refresh of its appearance and interactivity, while retaining the key features that have made Virtual You be the Judge a success.
We are currently aiming to launch the new Virtual You be the Judge in time for the 2027 school year.
Diversion
The Council is conducting a literature review about the effectiveness of criminal justice diversion programs.
Diversion allows an offender who admits responsibility for a criminal offence to avoid a formal criminal justice outcome. This can occur prior to a person being charged (such as through cautioning by Victoria Police) or after a person has been charged (such as via the Criminal Justice Diversion Program in the Magistrates’ Court or a diversion program in the Children’s Court).
Diversion is commonly thought to reduce the harms associated with criminal justice involvement. In this way, it has been said to potentially reduce reoffending, improve life outcomes for people involved in the justice system, reduce the costs of the criminal justice system and make the community safer in the long term.
The report will examine the available evidence on diversion, exploring:
- the theoretical basis for diversion (why might it work?)
- how we measure the effectiveness of diversion
- whether there are any groups of people most suited to being diverted
- whether diversion does, in fact, work.
The report will draw on some examples and literature from Victoria and Australia, but it is not a review of any specific program. Instead, it is an overview of evidence from a range of jurisdictions, nationally and overseas, about diversion generally.
