Suspended sentences have been abolished in Victoria for all offences committed from today, 1 September 2014.
Suspended sentences have been gradually phased out in Victoria.
In 2011, suspended sentences were removed in the higher courts for serious and significant offences committed on or after 1 May 2011 by the Sentencing Amendment Act 2010 (Vic).
Suspended sentences were removed as a sentencing option in the higher courts for all offences committed on or after 1 September 2013 by the Sentencing Amendment (Abolition of Suspended Sentences & Other Matters) Act 2013 (Vic).
Today’s removal of suspended sentences in the Magistrates’ Court for all offences committed on or after 1 September 2014 completes the phasing out of suspended sentences as an option for all future offending in Victoria. This change was also introduced by the Sentencing Amendment (Abolition of Suspended Sentences & Other Matters) Act 2013 (Vic).
The removal of suspended sentences is not retrospective. Suspended sentences still may be imposed in:
- the Magistrates’ Court for offences committed before 1 September 2014
- the County and Supreme Courts for offences (other than serious or significant offences) committed before 1 September 2013
- the County and Supreme Courts for serious or significant offences committed before 1 May 2011.
The first reference received by the Sentencing Advisory Council after its creation in 2004 was a review of suspended sentences in Victoria. The Council produced a number of papers and reports for this review, the last of which in 2008 recommended the phasing out of suspended sentences after the introduction of alternative intermediate orders.
In February 2014, the Council published Community Correction Orders: Monitoring Report examining the first 18 months of community correction orders and the extent to which they have replaced suspended sentences of imprisonment in practice.
