BOCSAR evaluation of NSW Government sentencing reforms

27/08/2020

The Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) has today released two reports in relation to the NSW Government’s sentencing reforms that commenced on 24 September 2018:

• New South Wales sentencing reforms: results from a survey of judicial officers; and

• The impact of the 2018 NSW sentencing reforms on supervised community orders and short-term prison sentences.

The BOCSAR reports measure the impact of the 2018 amendments and judicial impressions of the reforms which replaced existing community based sentences with new streamlined sentencing options, including tougher community supervision orders.

Findings from the two reports include:

• A significant increase in the proportion of adult offenders in the Local, District and Supreme Courts receiving a supervised community order;

• A decrease in the proportion of offenders in the Local, District and Supreme Courts receiving short term prison sentences;

• General agreement by judicial officers that the sentencing reforms are operating as intended.

The Attorney General and the Minister for Minister for Counter Terrorism and Corrections have welcomed the BOCSAR findings in a media release published earlier today.

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