Sentencing reforms come into force in NSW today

24/09/2018

Law reform and public affairs

From today, suspended sentences will be abolished in NSW and replaced by "Intensive Correction Orders" as part of the NSW Government’s $330 million strategy to reduce re-offending.

Under the new laws, supervision will be a standard condition for each Intensive Correction Order and a range of other conditions will be available, including home detention, curfews, electronic monitoring and community service work. However, Intensive Correction Orders will not be available to offenders guilty of serious offences such as murder, manslaughter, sexual assault and terrorism.

The reform package also introduces a legal presumption that domestic violence offenders will receive a prison term or supervised community-based sentence.

NSW Attorney General Mark Speakman MP SC said yesterday that these reforms represented the "final piece of the NSW Government’s ‘tough and smart’ Criminal Justice Reform Package" and that "the stronger sentencing laws cap off transformative changes to the administration of criminal justice from the time an offender is charged until the end of their sentence, and beyond in exceptional cases".

Further information is available here in a joint press statement by the Attorney General, the Minister for Police Troy Grant and the Minister for Corrections David Elliott.