Sentencing Snapshot 194: Sentencing Trends for Trafficking in a Commercial Quantity of Drugs in the Higher Courts of Victoria 2010–11 to 2014–15

Date of Publication

Sentencing Snapshot no. 194 describes sentencing outcomes for the offence of trafficking in a commercial quantity of drugs in the County and Supreme Courts of Victoria between 2010–11 and 2014–15.

More recent Snapshots are available for this offence.

You can also find statistics for this offence on SACStat.

Authored and published by the Sentencing Advisory Council
© Copyright State of Victoria, Sentencing Advisory Council, 2016


Snapshot 194: Trafficking in a Commercial Quantity of Drugs

Introduction

This Sentencing Snapshot describes sentencing outcomes[1] for the offence of trafficking in a commercial quantity of drugs in the County and Supreme Courts of Victoria between 2010–11 and 2014–15.[2] Adjustments made by the Court of Appeal to sentence or conviction as at June 2015 have been incorporated into the data in this Snapshot.

Detailed data on trafficking in a commercial quantity of drugs and other offences are available on SACStat.

The Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Act 1981 (Vic) provides a set of trafficking offences that distinguishes between large commercial, commercial, and less than commercial quantities of illicit drugs.[3]

A person who prepares, manufactures, sells, exchanges, agrees to sell, offers for sale, or has in his or her possession for sale a drug of dependence without being authorised or licensed to do so is guilty of trafficking in a drug of dependence.[4] The maximum penalties that apply vary depending on the nature and quantity of the drug involved, as well as the age of the recipient of the drugs, with higher maximum penalties for supplying to persons aged under 18 years.

This report examines the offence of trafficking in a commercial quantity of a drug (or drugs) of dependence to an adult.[5] The amount of the drug that constitutes a commercial quantity will depend on the type of drug involved.[6] Different types of drugs can be combined in order to achieve a commercial quantity.[7]

Trafficking in a commercial quantity of drugs is an indictable offence that carries a maximum penalty of 25 years’ imprisonment and/or a fine of up to 3,000 penalty units.[8] Indictable offences are more serious offences triable before a judge and jury in the County or Supreme Court. 

Trafficking in a commercial quantity of drugs was the principal offence[9] in 1.6% of cases sentenced in the higher courts between 2010–11 and 2014–15.

People Sentenced

From 2010–11 to 2014–15, 152 people were sentenced in the higher courts for a principal offence of trafficking in a commercial quantity of drugs.

Figure 1 shows the number of people sentenced for the principal offence of trafficking in a commercial quantity of drugs by financial year. There were 34 people sentenced for this offence in 2014–15, down by 1 person from the previous year.  The number of people sentenced was highest in 2013–14 (35 people).

Figure 1: The number of people sentenced for trafficking in a commercial quantity of drugs by financial year, 2010–11 to 2014–15

Financial year Total
2010–11 28
2011–12 31
2012–13 24
2013–14 35
2014–15 34
Total 152

Sentence Types and Trends

Figure 2 shows the total number of people sentenced for trafficking in a commercial quantity of drugs and the number that received an immediate custodial sentence.  An immediate custodial sentence is one that involves at least some element of immediate (as opposed to wholly suspended) imprisonment or detention.[10]  Over the five-year period, 93% of people were given an immediate custodial sentence.  This peaked at 97% (33 of 34 people) in  2014–15 after a low of 86% (30 of 35 people) in 2013–14.

Figure 2: The number of people sentenced for trafficking in a commercial quantity of drugs and the number that received an immediate custodial sentence, 2010–11 to 2014–15

Financial year Custodial Non-Custodial Total
2010–11 27 1 28
2011–12 29 2 31
2012–13 23 1 24
2013–14 30 5 35
2014–15 33 1 34
Total 142 10 152

Table 1 shows the number of people sentenced for trafficking in a commercial quantity of drugs from 2010–11 to 2014–15 by the types of sentences imposed.

Over the five-year period, the majority of the people sentenced for trafficking in a commercial quantity of drugs received a period of imprisonment (84% or 128 of 152 people).

The number of people receiving imprisonment was highest in 2013–14 and 2014–15 (28 people each) and the percentage of people receiving imprisonment for trafficking in a commercial quantity of drugs was lowest in 2013–14 (80% or 28 of 35 people). The number of people receiving imprisonment was lowest in 2012–13,but this was also the year with the highest percentage of people receiving this sentence (92% or 22 of 24 people). 

Table 1: The number and percentage of people sentenced for trafficking in a commercial quantity of drugs by sentence type, 2010–11 to 2014–15

Sentence type 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 Total
Imprisonment 25 (89%) 25 (81%) 22 (92%) 28 (80%) 28 (82%) 128 (84%)
Partially suspended sentence 2 (7%) 4 (13%) 0 (–) 1 (3%) 0 (–) 7 (5%)
Mix (Imprisonment and community correction order) 0 (–) 0 (–) 1 (4%) 1 (3%) 3 (9%) 5 (3%)
Wholly suspended sentence 1 (4%) 2 (6%) 1 (4%) 1 (3%) 0 (–) 5 (3%)
Community correction order 0 (–) 0 (–) 0 (–) 4 (11%) 1 (3%) 5 (3%)
Aggregate imprisonment 0 (–) 0 (–) 0 (–) 0 (–) 2 (6%) 2 (1%)
People sentenced 28 31 24 35 34 152

Age and Gender of People Sentenced

Data on the age and gender of people sentenced for trafficking in a commercial quantity of drugs are available on SACStat.

Principal and Total Effective Sentences

Two methods for describing sentence types and lengths are examined in this section. One relates to the principal sentence and examines sentences for the offence at a charge level. The other relates to the total effective sentence and examines sentences for the offence at a case level.

The principal sentence is the individual sentence imposed for the charge that is the principal offence.[11]

The total effective sentence in a case with a single charge is the principal sentence. The total effective sentence in a case with multiple charges is the sentence that results from the court ordering the individual sentences for each charge to be served concurrently (at the same time) or wholly or partially cumulatively (one after the other).

In many cases, the total effective sentence imposed on a person will be longer than the principal sentence. Principal sentences for trafficking in a commercial quantity of drugs must be considered in this broader context. The following sections analyse the use of imprisonment for the offence of trafficking in a commercial quantity of drugs from 2010–11 to 2014–15.

Principal Sentence of Imprisonment

A total of 135 people (89%) received a principal sentence of imprisonment for trafficking in a commercial quantity of drugs between 2010–11 and 2014–15.[12]

Figure 3 shows these people by the length of their imprisonment term.[13]  Imprisonment terms ranged from 4 months and 3 days (combined with a community correction order) to 8 years, while the median length of imprisonment was 4 years (meaning that half of the imprisonment terms were shorter than 4 years and half were longer).

The most common length of imprisonment imposed was 4 to less than 5 years (47 people).

Figure 3: The number of people sentenced to imprisonment for trafficking in a commercial quantity of drugs by length of imprisonment term, 2010–11 to 2014–15

Imprisonment length Number of people
Less than 1 year 7
1 to less than 2 years 8
2 to less than 3 years 12
3 to less than 4 years 34
4 to less than 5 years 47
5 to less than 6 years 16
6 to less than 7 years 5
7 to less than 8 years 2
8 to less than 9 years 2
People sentenced 133

As shown in Figure 4, the average length of imprisonment term imposed on people sentenced for trafficking in a commercial quantity of drugs ranged from 3 years and 2 months in 2012–13 to 4 years in 2013–14.

Figure 4: The average length of imprisonment term imposed on people sentenced for trafficking in a commercial quantity of drugs, 2010–11 to 2014–15

Financial year Average length of imprisonment term
2010–11 (n = 25) 3 years, 8 months
2011–12 (n = 25) 3 years, 11 months
2012–13 (n = 23) 3 years, 2 months
2013–14 (n = 29) 4 years, 0 months
2014–15 (n = 31) 3 years, 5 months

Other Offences Finalised at the Same Hearing

Often people prosecuted for trafficking in a commercial quantity of drugs face multiple charges, which are finalised at the same hearing.  This section looks at the range of offences for which offenders have been sentenced at the same time as being sentenced for the principal offence of trafficking in a commercial quantity of drugs.

Figure 5 shows the number of people sentenced for the principal offence of trafficking in a commercial quantity of drugs by the total number of offences for which sentences were set.  The number of sentenced offences per person ranged from 1 to 29, while the median was 2 offences.  There were 49 people (32.2%) sentenced for the single offence of trafficking in a commercial quantity of drugs.  The average number of offences per person sentenced for trafficking in a commercial quantity of drugs was 3.74.

Figure 5: The number of people sentenced for the principal offence of trafficking in a commercial quantity of drugs by the number of sentenced offences per person, 2010–11 to 2014–15

Number of offences Number of people
1 49
2 32
3 16
4 6
5–9 39
10–19 8
20+ 2
Total 152

While Figure 5 presents the number of sentenced offences for those sentenced for trafficking in a commercial quantity of drugs, Table 2 shows what the accompanying offences were.  It shows the number and percentage of people sentenced for the 10 most common offences.  The last column sets out the average number of offences sentenced per person.  For example, 49 of the total 152 people (32.2%) also received sentences for trafficking in a non-commercial quantity of drugs.  On average, they were sentenced for 1.51 counts of trafficking in a non-commercial quantity of drugs.

Table 2: The number and percentage of people sentenced for the principal offence of trafficking in a commercial quantity of drugs by the most common offences that were sentenced and the average number of those offences that were sentenced, 2010–11 to 2014–15

Offence Number of cases Percentage of cases Average number of offences per case
1. Trafficking in a commercial quantity of a drug of dependence 152 100.0 1.14
2. Trafficking in a non-commercial quantity of a drug of dependence 49 32.2 1.51
3. Possess a drug of dependence 42 27.6 2.19
4. Dealing with property suspected of being proceeds of crime 21 13.8 1.24
5. Theft 12 7.9 1.42
6. Knowingly deal with proceeds of crime 10 6.6 1.20
7. Possess prohibited weapon without exemption or approval 8 5.3 1.88
8. Prohibited person possess, carry, or use a registered firearm 7 4.6 1.29
9. Handling stolen goods 6 3.9 1.17
10. Possess equipment, material, or substance to manufacture a drug of dependence 6 3.9 1.00
People sentenced 152 100.0 3.74

Total Effective Sentence of Imprisonment

Figure 6 shows the number of people sentenced to imprisonment for trafficking in a commercial quantity of drugs between 2010–11 and 2014–15 by length of total effective sentence.  The length of total effective sentences ranged from 4 months and 3 days (combined with a community correction order) to 9 years and 9 months, while the median total effective length of imprisonment was 4 years and 2 months (meaning that half of the total effective sentence lengths were below 4 years and 2 months and half were above).

The most common total effective imprisonment length was 4 to less than 5 years (40 people).

Figure 6: The number of people sentenced to imprisonment for trafficking in a commercial quantity of drugs by length of total effective imprisonment term, 2010–11 to 2014–15

Total effective imprisonment length Number of people
Less than 1 year 7
1 to less than 2 years 8
2 to less than 3 years 10
3 to less than 4 years 26
4 to less than 5 years 40
5 to less than 6 years 21
6 to less than 7 years 14
7 to less than 8 years 3
8 to less than 9 years 2
9 to less than 10 years 4
People sentenced 135

Non-Parole Period

When a person is sentenced to a term of immediate imprisonment of one year or more, the court has the discretion to fix a non-parole period.  Where a non-parole period is fixed, the person must serve that period before becoming eligible for parole.  Where no non-parole period is set by the court, the person must serve the entirety of the imprisonment term.

Under section 11(4) of the Sentencing Act 1991 (Vic), if a court sentences an offender to imprisonment in respect of more than one offence, the non-parole period set by the court must be in respect of the total effective sentence of imprisonment that the offender is liable to serve under all the sentences imposed.  In many cases, the non-parole period will be longer than the individual principal sentence for trafficking in a commercial quantity of drugs.  Sentences and non-parole periods must be considered in this broader context.

Of the 135 people who were sentenced to imprisonment for trafficking in a commercial quantity of drugs, 128 were eligible to have a non-parole period fixed.[14]  Of these people, 120 were given a non-parole period (94%).[15]  Figure 7 shows the number of people sentenced to imprisonment for trafficking in a commercial quantity of drugs between 2010–11 and 2014–15 by length of non-parole period.  Non-parole periods ranged from 5 months and 21 days to 6 years and 6 months, while the median length of the non-parole period was 2 years and 6 months (meaning that half of the non-parole periods were below 2 years and 6 months and half were above). 

The most common non-parole period imposed was 2 to less than 3 years (43 people).

Figure 7: The number of people sentenced to imprisonment for trafficking in a commercial quantity of drugs by length of non-parole period, 2010–11 to 2014–15

Non-parole period Number of people
Less than 1 year 4
1 to less than 2 years 33
2 to less than 3 years 43
3 to less than 4 years 23
4 to less than 5 years 8
5 to less than 6 years 6
6 to less than 7 years 3
No non-parole period 9

Total Effective Sentences of Imprisonment and Non-Parole Periods

Figure 8 presents the average length of total effective sentences of imprisonment compared with the average length of non-parole periods from 2010–11 to 2014–15.

From 2010–11 to 2014–15, the average length of total effective sentences for all people ranged from 3 years and 6 months in 2012–13 to 4 years and 7 months in 2011–12.  Over the same period, the average length of non-parole periods ranged from 2 years and 2 months in 2012–13 to 2 years and 8 months in 2010–11.

Figure 8: The average total effective sentence and the average non-parole period imposed on people sentenced to imprisonment for trafficking in a commercial quantity of drugs, 2010–11 to 2014–15

Financial year Average total effective length Average non-parole period
2010–11 4 years, 6 months 2 years, 8 months
2011–12 4 years, 7 months 2 years, 7 months
2012–13 3 years, 6 months 2 years, 2 months
2013–14 4 years, 6 months 2 years, 7 months
2014–15 3 years, 9 months 2 years, 7 months

Total Effective Sentence of Imprisonment by Non-Parole Period

Data on the total effective sentence of imprisonment by non-parole period for trafficking in a commercial quantity of drugs are available on SACStat.

Non-Imprisonment Sentences

Data on the length of non-imprisonment sentence types – such as community correction orders, suspended sentences, and fines – for trafficking in a commercial quantity of drugs are available on SACStat.

Summary

Between 2010–11 and 2014–15, 152 people were sentenced for trafficking in a commercial quantity of drugs in the higher courts.  Of these people, 135 (89%) were given a principal sentence of imprisonment.

The number and range of offences for which people with a principal offence of trafficking in a commercial quantity of drugs  were sentenced help explain why imprisonment sentence lengths were slightly longer for the total effective sentence than for the principal sentence. The median total effective imprisonment length was 4 years and 2 months while the median principal imprisonment length was 4 years.

Total effective imprisonment lengths ranged from 4 months and 3 days (combined with a community correction order) to 9 years and 9 months, and non-parole periods (where imposed) ranged from 5 months and 21 days to 6 years and 6 months.

Endnotes

1. This series of reports includes custodial and non-custodial supervision orders imposed under Part 5 of the Crimes (Mental Impairment and Unfitness to be Tried) Act 1997 (Vic) as sentencing orders and in the count of people sentenced.  These orders are not sentencing orders, as they are imposed in cases where the defendant is found to be unfit to stand trial or not guilty because of mental impairment. However, these orders are included in this report as they are an important form of disposition of criminal charges.

This Sentencing Snapshot is an update of Sentencing Snapshot no. 162, which describes sentencing trends for trafficking in a commercial quantity of drugs between 2008–09 and 2012–13.

2. Data on first-instance sentence outcomes presented in this Snapshot were obtained from the Strategic Analysis and Review Team at Court Services Victoria. Data on appeal outcomes were collected by the Sentencing Advisory Council from the Australasian Legal Information Institute (external link opens in a new window), and also were provided by the Victorian Court of Appeal. The Sentencing Advisory Council regularly undertakes extensive quality control measures for current and historical data. While every effort is made to ensure that the data analysed in this report are accurate, the data are subject to revision.

The sentencing database used for this analysis was compiled using conviction returns.  Due to incomplete offence information regarding drug trafficking offences on the conviction returns, a further classification exercise was undertaken to determine the specific offence types.  This involved reading the sentencing remarks of the particular cases and determining if the quantity of the drug was non-commercial, commercial, or large commercial.  In total, there were 630 cases that had drug trafficking (section 71, 71AA, 71AB, or 71AC of the Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Act 1981 (Vic)) as the principal proven offence over the five-year period from 2010–11 to 2014–15.  Sentencing remarks were located for 618 cases (98%).  The drug quantities for all these cases were checked and coded into the appropriate category. The remaining cases had sentences that were all within the statutory maximum penalty for the offence and were therefore assumed to have been recorded correctly in the first instance.

3Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Act 1981 (Vic) ss 71–71AC.

4Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Act 1981 (Vic) s 70.

5Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Act 1981 (Vic) s 71AA.

6Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Act 1981 (Vic) s 70.

7. See ‘aggregate commercial quantity’: Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Act 1981 (Vic) s 70.

8. The value of a penalty unit changes each year and can be found in the Victorian Government Gazette and on the Victorian Legislation and Parliamentary Documents website (external link opens in a new window).

9. If a person is sentenced for a case with a single charge, the offence for that charge is the principal offence. If a person is sentenced for more than one charge in a single case, the principal offence is the offence for the charge that attracted the most serious sentence according to the sentencing hierarchy.

10. Immediate custodial sentence includes imprisonment, partially suspended sentence, mix (imprisonment and community correction order), and aggregate imprisonment.

11. Refer to endnote 9.

12. This total includes the people in Table 1 who received a sentence of imprisonment, mix (imprisonment and community correction order), and aggregate imprisonment.

13. Data presented in this section do not include imprisonment lengths for people who received an aggregate sentence of imprisonment. Sentence lengths for aggregate sentences of imprisonment apply to the whole case, while Figure 3 only deals with sentences of imprisonment for the principal proven offence of trafficking in a commercial quantity of drugs. During the 2010–11 to 2014–15 period, 2 people received an aggregate form of imprisonment.

14. A total of 7 people were not eligible for parole because they were given a total effective sentence length of less than one year.

15. Six people were not given a non-parole period relating to that case alone, but a non-parole period that also related to other cases.  It is not possible to determine the length of the non-parole period that relates to these cases.  The non-parole periods for these people are excluded from the analysis.  A non-parole period was not set for 2 people who were eligible for a non-parole period.