Date of Publication
05 December 2024
We’ve released our second yearly report on sentencing trends in the last 10 years in Victoria. This report includes high-level data for all criminal court jurisdictions: the Supreme Court, County Court, Magistrates’ Court and Children’s Court. The data for each jurisdiction is presented separately and includes case volumes, offence types and sentencing practices over time.
The report found that:
- case numbers in 2022-23 were similar to pre-COVID years in all jurisdictions, except for the Children’s Court where they have fallen by 45% since 2016-17
- there has been an increase in the use of combined orders of imprisonment with a community correction order in the higher courts (the County and Supreme Courts). Combined orders comprised 20% of cases in the County Court in 2022-23 – this is the highest rate since 2015-16
- companies are receiving larger fines in the County Court and Magistrates’ Court. The largest fine in the 10-year reference period was $3 million imposed in 2022-23
- youth diversion continues to increase as a proportion of sentencing outcomes and was the most common sentence in the Children’s Court in 2022-23, comprising 54% of cases.
You can access Sentencing in Victoria 2013-14 to 2022-23 on our website.
