Factors influencing sentencing in domestic violence offences

09/08/2010

The NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) has published the results of its study on Factors Which Influence the Sentencing of Domestic Violence Offenders. The first such Australian study into the sentencing of domestic violence offenders, it analyses around 20,000 cases of domestic violence related offences dealt with by the NSW courts between January 2008 and June 2009. The research results show that:

_[o]ffenders found guilty of a domestic violence-related assault are more likely to receive a prison sentence if: the assault caused significant harm, the offender has a concurrent offence at the court appearance, a prior prison episode, a prior conviction for a violent offence, has breached an AVO in the previous two years, is male or Indigenous. _

**9 August 2010 **