Judicial leniency - public perceptions need a reality check

15/04/2015

It will come as no surprise to members of the New South Wales Bar. Research by the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research demonstrates that our political and media discourse on criminal justice - that is to say, "judges are a soft touch" - is badly misguided. According to the report, Have NSW Criminal Courts Become More Lenient in the Past 20 Years? the percentage of convicted offenders given a custodial sentence has increased in most categories of offence and the average length of the prison term has, in many instances, risen as well. View the report here.