❓ Dr. Constable asks the Attorney General about the time served and cost incurred by wrongfully convicted individuals in WA from 2001-2007. The Attorney General provides data on cases overturned by the Court of Appeal, excluding Magistrate Court appeals and cases with retrials.
AnsweredQoN 2998Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
(a) how many years of imprisonment were served in each of the years from 2001 to 2007 by people subsequently found to be wrongfully convicted; and
(b) how much did imprisonment of people wrongfully convicted cost in each of the financial years from 2001–2002 to 2006–2007?
(b) how much did imprisonment of people wrongfully convicted cost in each of the financial years from 2001–2002 to 2006–2007?
AnswerView source ↗
Answered
19 March 2008
Response time
22 days
Convictions may be quashed on appeal. Appeals against a decision of the District Court or Supreme Court are made to the Court of Appeal. An appeal against a decision of the Magistrate's Court is made to a judge sitting alone in the Supreme Court. Appeal cases heard by a judge sitting alone have not been included due to the need to undertake a manual search of files necessary to determine the appeal outcome.
The information provided below relates to cases where the Court of Appeal has quashed the conviction and not ordered a retrial. In cases where the Court of Appeal quashes the conviction and orders a retrial the accused may be convicted again, or found not guilty, or the trial may not go ahead as a result of death of the accused or the prosecution withdrawing the charges. These options have not been considered.
(a) 2001 0.77 years
2002 1.61 years
2003 2.84 years
2004 3.78 years
2005 5.00 years
2006 4.48 years
2007 1.47 years
(b) Using the cost per day to house a prisoner, as published in the department's Annual Reports (Department of Justice, now the Department of Corrective Services), and applying that to the number of prisoner years identified in part (a) of this answer, the cost per financial year is as follows:
2001/02 $104,920
2002/03 $207,234
2003/04 $307,080
2004/05 $383,384
2005/06 $447,277
2006/07 $310,425
Notice: This document is created or edited using unregistered or evaluation copy of rtLib valid for testing or development purposes only. To use it for productive or any other purposes please register it. You may purchase the license on
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The information provided below relates to cases where the Court of Appeal has quashed the conviction and not ordered a retrial. In cases where the Court of Appeal quashes the conviction and orders a retrial the accused may be convicted again, or found not guilty, or the trial may not go ahead as a result of death of the accused or the prosecution withdrawing the charges. These options have not been considered.
(a) 2001 0.77 years
2002 1.61 years
2003 2.84 years
2004 3.78 years
2005 5.00 years
2006 4.48 years
2007 1.47 years
(b) Using the cost per day to house a prisoner, as published in the department's Annual Reports (Department of Justice, now the Department of Corrective Services), and applying that to the number of prisoner years identified in part (a) of this answer, the cost per financial year is as follows:
2001/02 $104,920
2002/03 $207,234
2003/04 $307,080
2004/05 $383,384
2005/06 $447,277
2006/07 $310,425
Notice: This document is created or edited using unregistered or evaluation copy of rtLib valid for testing or development purposes only. To use it for productive or any other purposes please register it. You may purchase the license on
http://www.rtlib.com
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