❓ The Minister for Justice provides data on sentencing under the 'three strikes' law, highlighting difficulties in accurate recording and interpretation, particularly regarding juveniles and Indigenous offenders. Data from the Children's Court is provided, but adult data is limited due to court cooperation and recording issues.
AnsweredQoN 116Legislative Council
QuestionView source ↗
(1) Can the minister advise how many people have been sentenced under the so-called “three strikes and you’re in” law? (2) How many of these people are indigenous? Hon PETER FOSS
AnswerView source ↗
(1)-(2) I have some difficulties replying to the member for two reasons. First, no information has been provided by the higher courts and to some extent we need to know what is in the mind of the judge to find out whether people are being sentenced because of the three-strikes law or because they are adults before the court for the third time, and one would expect them to be sentenced to some form of imprisonment. The other problem we have with the juveniles is that, due to the provisions of the Young Offenders Act, a person has probably had considerably more than three strikes by the time he is sentenced under the three-strikes law, because that is the way that law operates. I can give the member figures but I really had to preface my answer by stating that we cannot really say, because, to a large extent, it does not work out that way, either for young people or for adult offenders. Hon N.D. Griffiths: These figures could mislead them. Hon PETER FOSS: That is why I am being very careful to let everybody know. That is one of the reasons that I thought the sentencing matrix would be very useful, because it asks the judges to tell us what they are doing as opposed to them saying, “You can work it out for yourself”. Up to 30 June 2000, information from the Children’s Court, which has been very helpful in providing us with information, indicates that there have been a total of 119 sentence events involving 92 individuals, of which 81 were sentenced to detention, three to imprisonment and eight to a conditional release order. Due to the provisions of the Young Offenders Act, the particular offender may well have had more than three strikes and the court has frequently indicated that it was in any event appropriate to detain an offender. The sentencing remarks of the judges show they definitely go through all the alternatives before finally deciding to detain the offenders. Hon Mark Nevill: When are you tabling a review of that Act? Hon PETER FOSS: When it is ready. Eighty per cent of juveniles sentenced under the provisions of the three-strikes legislation are indigenous. The number of adults sentenced under “three strikes” is not clear due to a combination of difficulties in adequately recording these sentences and rare requests for the provisions of the legislation to be implemented at sentencing, in the knowledge that an adult subject to three strikes is likely to be sentenced to more than 12 months imprisonment anyway. The courts have not cooperated in providing this information. However, home burglary is not one of the five major causes of indigenous imprisonment, which is interesting. There is quite a different sentencing consequence for adult Aboriginal people and juvenile Aboriginal people. The five main causes of imprisonment for adult Aboriginal offenders are more related to alcohol-related offences, breaches of conditional release orders, drink-driving offences and personal assaults, usually on other Aboriginal people. However, for the juveniles - mainly but not entirely in the urban population - home burglaries are a significant cause of detention.
(2) How many of these people are indigenous? Hon PETER FOSS replied: (1)-(2) I have some difficulties replying to the member for two reasons. First, no information has been provided by the higher courts and to some extent we need to know what is in the mind of the judge to find out whether people are being sentenced because of the three-strikes law or because they are adults before the court for the third time, and one would expect them to be sentenced to some form of imprisonment. The other problem we have with the juveniles is that, due to the provisions of the Young Offenders Act, a person has probably had considerably more than three strikes by the time he is sentenced under the three-strikes law, because that is the way that law operates. I can give the member figures but I really had to preface my answer by stating that we cannot really say, because, to a large extent, it does not work out that way, either for young people or for adult offenders. Hon N.D. Griffiths: These figures could mislead them. Hon PETER FOSS: That is why I am being very careful to let everybody know. That is one of the reasons that I thought the sentencing matrix would be very useful, because it asks the judges to tell us what they are doing as opposed to them saying, “You can work it out for yourself”. Up to 30 June 2000, information from the Children’s Court, which has been very helpful in providing us with information, indicates that there have been a total of 119 sentence events involving 92 individuals, of which 81 were sentenced to detention, three to imprisonment and eight to a conditional release order. Due to the provisions of the Young Offenders Act, the particular offender may well have had more than three strikes and the court has frequently indicated that it was in any event appropriate to detain an offender. The sentencing remarks of the judges show they definitely go through all the alternatives before finally deciding to detain the offenders. Hon Mark Nevill: When are you tabling a review of that Act? Hon PETER FOSS: When it is ready. Eighty per cent of juveniles sentenced under the provisions of the three-strikes legislation are indigenous. The number of adults sentenced under “three strikes” is not clear due to a combination of difficulties in adequately recording these sentences and rare requests for the provisions of the legislation to be implemented at sentencing, in the knowledge that an adult subject to three strikes is likely to be sentenced to more than 12 months imprisonment anyway. The courts have not cooperated in providing this information. However, home burglary is not one of the five major causes of indigenous imprisonment, which is interesting. There is quite a different sentencing consequence for adult Aboriginal people and juvenile Aboriginal people. The five main causes of imprisonment for adult Aboriginal offenders are more related to alcohol-related offences, breaches of conditional release orders, drink-driving offences and personal assaults, usually on other Aboriginal people. However, for the juveniles - mainly but not entirely in the urban population - home burglaries are a significant cause of detention.
Hon PETER FOSS replied: (1)-(2) I have some difficulties replying to the member for two reasons. First, no information has been provided by the higher courts and to some extent we need to know what is in the mind of the judge to find out whether people are being sentenced because of the three-strikes law or because they are adults before the court for the third time, and one would expect them to be sentenced to some form of imprisonment. The other problem we have with the juveniles is that, due to the provisions of the Young Offenders Act, a person has probably had considerably more than three strikes by the time he is sentenced under the three-strikes law, because that is the way that law operates. I can give the member figures but I really had to preface my answer by stating that we cannot really say, because, to a large extent, it does not work out that way, either for young people or for adult offenders. Hon N.D. Griffiths: These figures could mislead them. Hon PETER FOSS: That is why I am being very careful to let everybody know. That is one of the reasons that I thought the sentencing matrix would be very useful, because it asks the judges to tell us what they are doing as opposed to them saying, “You can work it out for yourself”. Up to 30 June 2000, information from the Children’s Court, which has been very helpful in providing us with information, indicates that there have been a total of 119 sentence events involving 92 individuals, of which 81 were sentenced to detention, three to imprisonment and eight to a conditional release order. Due to the provisions of the Young Offenders Act, the particular offender may well have had more than three strikes and the court has frequently indicated that it was in any event appropriate to detain an offender. The sentencing remarks of the judges show they definitely go through all the alternatives before finally deciding to detain the offenders. Hon Mark Nevill: When are you tabling a review of that Act? Hon PETER FOSS: When it is ready. Eighty per cent of juveniles sentenced under the provisions of the three-strikes legislation are indigenous. The number of adults sentenced under “three strikes” is not clear due to a combination of difficulties in adequately recording these sentences and rare requests for the provisions of the legislation to be implemented at sentencing, in the knowledge that an adult subject to three strikes is likely to be sentenced to more than 12 months imprisonment anyway. The courts have not cooperated in providing this information. However, home burglary is not one of the five major causes of indigenous imprisonment, which is interesting. There is quite a different sentencing consequence for adult Aboriginal people and juvenile Aboriginal people. The five main causes of imprisonment for adult Aboriginal offenders are more related to alcohol-related offences, breaches of conditional release orders, drink-driving offences and personal assaults, usually on other Aboriginal people. However, for the juveniles - mainly but not entirely in the urban population - home burglaries are a significant cause of detention.
(1)-(2) I have some difficulties replying to the member for two reasons. First, no information has been provided by the higher courts and to some extent we need to know what is in the mind of the judge to find out whether people are being sentenced because of the three-strikes law or because they are adults before the court for the third time, and one would expect them to be sentenced to some form of imprisonment. The other problem we have with the juveniles is that, due to the provisions of the Young Offenders Act, a person has probably had considerably more than three strikes by the time he is sentenced under the three-strikes law, because that is the way that law operates. I can give the member figures but I really had to preface my answer by stating that we cannot really say, because, to a large extent, it does not work out that way, either for young people or for adult offenders. Hon N.D. Griffiths: These figures could mislead them. Hon PETER FOSS: That is why I am being very careful to let everybody know. That is one of the reasons that I thought the sentencing matrix would be very useful, because it asks the judges to tell us what they are doing as opposed to them saying, “You can work it out for yourself”. Up to 30 June 2000, information from the Children’s Court, which has been very helpful in providing us with information, indicates that there have been a total of 119 sentence events involving 92 individuals, of which 81 were sentenced to detention, three to imprisonment and eight to a conditional release order. Due to the provisions of the Young Offenders Act, the particular offender may well have had more than three strikes and the court has frequently indicated that it was in any event appropriate to detain an offender. The sentencing remarks of the judges show they definitely go through all the alternatives before finally deciding to detain the offenders. Hon Mark Nevill: When are you tabling a review of that Act? Hon PETER FOSS: When it is ready. Eighty per cent of juveniles sentenced under the provisions of the three-strikes legislation are indigenous. The number of adults sentenced under “three strikes” is not clear due to a combination of difficulties in adequately recording these sentences and rare requests for the provisions of the legislation to be implemented at sentencing, in the knowledge that an adult subject to three strikes is likely to be sentenced to more than 12 months imprisonment anyway. The courts have not cooperated in providing this information. However, home burglary is not one of the five major causes of indigenous imprisonment, which is interesting. There is quite a different sentencing consequence for adult Aboriginal people and juvenile Aboriginal people. The five main causes of imprisonment for adult Aboriginal offenders are more related to alcohol-related offences, breaches of conditional release orders, drink-driving offences and personal assaults, usually on other Aboriginal people. However, for the juveniles - mainly but not entirely in the urban population - home burglaries are a significant cause of detention.
Hon N.D. Griffiths: These figures could mislead them. Hon PETER FOSS: That is why I am being very careful to let everybody know. That is one of the reasons that I thought the sentencing matrix would be very useful, because it asks the judges to tell us what they are doing as opposed to them saying, “You can work it out for yourself”. Up to 30 June 2000, information from the Children’s Court, which has been very helpful in providing us with information, indicates that there have been a total of 119 sentence events involving 92 individuals, of which 81 were sentenced to detention, three to imprisonment and eight to a conditional release order. Due to the provisions of the Young Offenders Act, the particular offender may well have had more than three strikes and the court has frequently indicated that it was in any event appropriate to detain an offender. The sentencing remarks of the judges show they definitely go through all the alternatives before finally deciding to detain the offenders. Hon Mark Nevill: When are you tabling a review of that Act? Hon PETER FOSS: When it is ready. Eighty per cent of juveniles sentenced under the provisions of the three-strikes legislation are indigenous. The number of adults sentenced under “three strikes” is not clear due to a combination of difficulties in adequately recording these sentences and rare requests for the provisions of the legislation to be implemented at sentencing, in the knowledge that an adult subject to three strikes is likely to be sentenced to more than 12 months imprisonment anyway. The courts have not cooperated in providing this information. However, home burglary is not one of the five major causes of indigenous imprisonment, which is interesting. There is quite a different sentencing consequence for adult Aboriginal people and juvenile Aboriginal people. The five main causes of imprisonment for adult Aboriginal offenders are more related to alcohol-related offences, breaches of conditional release orders, drink-driving offences and personal assaults, usually on other Aboriginal people. However, for the juveniles - mainly but not entirely in the urban population - home burglaries are a significant cause of detention.
Hon PETER FOSS: That is why I am being very careful to let everybody know. That is one of the reasons that I thought the sentencing matrix would be very useful, because it asks the judges to tell us what they are doing as opposed to them saying, “You can work it out for yourself”. Up to 30 June 2000, information from the Children’s Court, which has been very helpful in providing us with information, indicates that there have been a total of 119 sentence events involving 92 individuals, of which 81 were sentenced to detention, three to imprisonment and eight to a conditional release order. Due to the provisions of the Young Offenders Act, the particular offender may well have had more than three strikes and the court has frequently indicated that it was in any event appropriate to detain an offender. The sentencing remarks of the judges show they definitely go through all the alternatives before finally deciding to detain the offenders. Hon Mark Nevill: When are you tabling a review of that Act? Hon PETER FOSS: When it is ready. Eighty per cent of juveniles sentenced under the provisions of the three-strikes legislation are indigenous. The number of adults sentenced under “three strikes” is not clear due to a combination of difficulties in adequately recording these sentences and rare requests for the provisions of the legislation to be implemented at sentencing, in the knowledge that an adult subject to three strikes is likely to be sentenced to more than 12 months imprisonment anyway. The courts have not cooperated in providing this information. However, home burglary is not one of the five major causes of indigenous imprisonment, which is interesting. There is quite a different sentencing consequence for adult Aboriginal people and juvenile Aboriginal people. The five main causes of imprisonment for adult Aboriginal offenders are more related to alcohol-related offences, breaches of conditional release orders, drink-driving offences and personal assaults, usually on other Aboriginal people. However, for the juveniles - mainly but not entirely in the urban population - home burglaries are a significant cause of detention.
Up to 30 June 2000, information from the Children’s Court, which has been very helpful in providing us with information, indicates that there have been a total of 119 sentence events involving 92 individuals, of which 81 were sentenced to detention, three to imprisonment and eight to a conditional release order. Due to the provisions of the Young Offenders Act, the particular offender may well have had more than three strikes and the court has frequently indicated that it was in any event appropriate to detain an offender. The sentencing remarks of the judges show they definitely go through all the alternatives before finally deciding to detain the offenders. Hon Mark Nevill: When are you tabling a review of that Act? Hon PETER FOSS: When it is ready. Eighty per cent of juveniles sentenced under the provisions of the three-strikes legislation are indigenous. The number of adults sentenced under “three strikes” is not clear due to a combination of difficulties in adequately recording these sentences and rare requests for the provisions of the legislation to be implemented at sentencing, in the knowledge that an adult subject to three strikes is likely to be sentenced to more than 12 months imprisonment anyway. The courts have not cooperated in providing this information. However, home burglary is not one of the five major causes of indigenous imprisonment, which is interesting. There is quite a different sentencing consequence for adult Aboriginal people and juvenile Aboriginal people. The five main causes of imprisonment for adult Aboriginal offenders are more related to alcohol-related offences, breaches of conditional release orders, drink-driving offences and personal assaults, usually on other Aboriginal people. However, for the juveniles - mainly but not entirely in the urban population - home burglaries are a significant cause of detention.
Hon Mark Nevill: When are you tabling a review of that Act? Hon PETER FOSS: When it is ready. Eighty per cent of juveniles sentenced under the provisions of the three-strikes legislation are indigenous. The number of adults sentenced under “three strikes” is not clear due to a combination of difficulties in adequately recording these sentences and rare requests for the provisions of the legislation to be implemented at sentencing, in the knowledge that an adult subject to three strikes is likely to be sentenced to more than 12 months imprisonment anyway. The courts have not cooperated in providing this information. However, home burglary is not one of the five major causes of indigenous imprisonment, which is interesting. There is quite a different sentencing consequence for adult Aboriginal people and juvenile Aboriginal people. The five main causes of imprisonment for adult Aboriginal offenders are more related to alcohol-related offences, breaches of conditional release orders, drink-driving offences and personal assaults, usually on other Aboriginal people. However, for the juveniles - mainly but not entirely in the urban population - home burglaries are a significant cause of detention.
Hon PETER FOSS: When it is ready. Eighty per cent of juveniles sentenced under the provisions of the three-strikes legislation are indigenous. The number of adults sentenced under “three strikes” is not clear due to a combination of difficulties in adequately recording these sentences and rare requests for the provisions of the legislation to be implemented at sentencing, in the knowledge that an adult subject to three strikes is likely to be sentenced to more than 12 months imprisonment anyway. The courts have not cooperated in providing this information. However, home burglary is not one of the five major causes of indigenous imprisonment, which is interesting. There is quite a different sentencing consequence for adult Aboriginal people and juvenile Aboriginal people. The five main causes of imprisonment for adult Aboriginal offenders are more related to alcohol-related offences, breaches of conditional release orders, drink-driving offences and personal assaults, usually on other Aboriginal people. However, for the juveniles - mainly but not entirely in the urban population - home burglaries are a significant cause of detention.
(2) How many of these people are indigenous? Hon PETER FOSS replied: (1)-(2) I have some difficulties replying to the member for two reasons. First, no information has been provided by the higher courts and to some extent we need to know what is in the mind of the judge to find out whether people are being sentenced because of the three-strikes law or because they are adults before the court for the third time, and one would expect them to be sentenced to some form of imprisonment. The other problem we have with the juveniles is that, due to the provisions of the Young Offenders Act, a person has probably had considerably more than three strikes by the time he is sentenced under the three-strikes law, because that is the way that law operates. I can give the member figures but I really had to preface my answer by stating that we cannot really say, because, to a large extent, it does not work out that way, either for young people or for adult offenders. Hon N.D. Griffiths: These figures could mislead them. Hon PETER FOSS: That is why I am being very careful to let everybody know. That is one of the reasons that I thought the sentencing matrix would be very useful, because it asks the judges to tell us what they are doing as opposed to them saying, “You can work it out for yourself”. Up to 30 June 2000, information from the Children’s Court, which has been very helpful in providing us with information, indicates that there have been a total of 119 sentence events involving 92 individuals, of which 81 were sentenced to detention, three to imprisonment and eight to a conditional release order. Due to the provisions of the Young Offenders Act, the particular offender may well have had more than three strikes and the court has frequently indicated that it was in any event appropriate to detain an offender. The sentencing remarks of the judges show they definitely go through all the alternatives before finally deciding to detain the offenders. Hon Mark Nevill: When are you tabling a review of that Act? Hon PETER FOSS: When it is ready. Eighty per cent of juveniles sentenced under the provisions of the three-strikes legislation are indigenous. The number of adults sentenced under “three strikes” is not clear due to a combination of difficulties in adequately recording these sentences and rare requests for the provisions of the legislation to be implemented at sentencing, in the knowledge that an adult subject to three strikes is likely to be sentenced to more than 12 months imprisonment anyway. The courts have not cooperated in providing this information. However, home burglary is not one of the five major causes of indigenous imprisonment, which is interesting. There is quite a different sentencing consequence for adult Aboriginal people and juvenile Aboriginal people. The five main causes of imprisonment for adult Aboriginal offenders are more related to alcohol-related offences, breaches of conditional release orders, drink-driving offences and personal assaults, usually on other Aboriginal people. However, for the juveniles - mainly but not entirely in the urban population - home burglaries are a significant cause of detention.
Hon PETER FOSS replied: (1)-(2) I have some difficulties replying to the member for two reasons. First, no information has been provided by the higher courts and to some extent we need to know what is in the mind of the judge to find out whether people are being sentenced because of the three-strikes law or because they are adults before the court for the third time, and one would expect them to be sentenced to some form of imprisonment. The other problem we have with the juveniles is that, due to the provisions of the Young Offenders Act, a person has probably had considerably more than three strikes by the time he is sentenced under the three-strikes law, because that is the way that law operates. I can give the member figures but I really had to preface my answer by stating that we cannot really say, because, to a large extent, it does not work out that way, either for young people or for adult offenders. Hon N.D. Griffiths: These figures could mislead them. Hon PETER FOSS: That is why I am being very careful to let everybody know. That is one of the reasons that I thought the sentencing matrix would be very useful, because it asks the judges to tell us what they are doing as opposed to them saying, “You can work it out for yourself”. Up to 30 June 2000, information from the Children’s Court, which has been very helpful in providing us with information, indicates that there have been a total of 119 sentence events involving 92 individuals, of which 81 were sentenced to detention, three to imprisonment and eight to a conditional release order. Due to the provisions of the Young Offenders Act, the particular offender may well have had more than three strikes and the court has frequently indicated that it was in any event appropriate to detain an offender. The sentencing remarks of the judges show they definitely go through all the alternatives before finally deciding to detain the offenders. Hon Mark Nevill: When are you tabling a review of that Act? Hon PETER FOSS: When it is ready. Eighty per cent of juveniles sentenced under the provisions of the three-strikes legislation are indigenous. The number of adults sentenced under “three strikes” is not clear due to a combination of difficulties in adequately recording these sentences and rare requests for the provisions of the legislation to be implemented at sentencing, in the knowledge that an adult subject to three strikes is likely to be sentenced to more than 12 months imprisonment anyway. The courts have not cooperated in providing this information. However, home burglary is not one of the five major causes of indigenous imprisonment, which is interesting. There is quite a different sentencing consequence for adult Aboriginal people and juvenile Aboriginal people. The five main causes of imprisonment for adult Aboriginal offenders are more related to alcohol-related offences, breaches of conditional release orders, drink-driving offences and personal assaults, usually on other Aboriginal people. However, for the juveniles - mainly but not entirely in the urban population - home burglaries are a significant cause of detention.
(1)-(2) I have some difficulties replying to the member for two reasons. First, no information has been provided by the higher courts and to some extent we need to know what is in the mind of the judge to find out whether people are being sentenced because of the three-strikes law or because they are adults before the court for the third time, and one would expect them to be sentenced to some form of imprisonment. The other problem we have with the juveniles is that, due to the provisions of the Young Offenders Act, a person has probably had considerably more than three strikes by the time he is sentenced under the three-strikes law, because that is the way that law operates. I can give the member figures but I really had to preface my answer by stating that we cannot really say, because, to a large extent, it does not work out that way, either for young people or for adult offenders. Hon N.D. Griffiths: These figures could mislead them. Hon PETER FOSS: That is why I am being very careful to let everybody know. That is one of the reasons that I thought the sentencing matrix would be very useful, because it asks the judges to tell us what they are doing as opposed to them saying, “You can work it out for yourself”. Up to 30 June 2000, information from the Children’s Court, which has been very helpful in providing us with information, indicates that there have been a total of 119 sentence events involving 92 individuals, of which 81 were sentenced to detention, three to imprisonment and eight to a conditional release order. Due to the provisions of the Young Offenders Act, the particular offender may well have had more than three strikes and the court has frequently indicated that it was in any event appropriate to detain an offender. The sentencing remarks of the judges show they definitely go through all the alternatives before finally deciding to detain the offenders. Hon Mark Nevill: When are you tabling a review of that Act? Hon PETER FOSS: When it is ready. Eighty per cent of juveniles sentenced under the provisions of the three-strikes legislation are indigenous. The number of adults sentenced under “three strikes” is not clear due to a combination of difficulties in adequately recording these sentences and rare requests for the provisions of the legislation to be implemented at sentencing, in the knowledge that an adult subject to three strikes is likely to be sentenced to more than 12 months imprisonment anyway. The courts have not cooperated in providing this information. However, home burglary is not one of the five major causes of indigenous imprisonment, which is interesting. There is quite a different sentencing consequence for adult Aboriginal people and juvenile Aboriginal people. The five main causes of imprisonment for adult Aboriginal offenders are more related to alcohol-related offences, breaches of conditional release orders, drink-driving offences and personal assaults, usually on other Aboriginal people. However, for the juveniles - mainly but not entirely in the urban population - home burglaries are a significant cause of detention.
Hon N.D. Griffiths: These figures could mislead them. Hon PETER FOSS: That is why I am being very careful to let everybody know. That is one of the reasons that I thought the sentencing matrix would be very useful, because it asks the judges to tell us what they are doing as opposed to them saying, “You can work it out for yourself”. Up to 30 June 2000, information from the Children’s Court, which has been very helpful in providing us with information, indicates that there have been a total of 119 sentence events involving 92 individuals, of which 81 were sentenced to detention, three to imprisonment and eight to a conditional release order. Due to the provisions of the Young Offenders Act, the particular offender may well have had more than three strikes and the court has frequently indicated that it was in any event appropriate to detain an offender. The sentencing remarks of the judges show they definitely go through all the alternatives before finally deciding to detain the offenders. Hon Mark Nevill: When are you tabling a review of that Act? Hon PETER FOSS: When it is ready. Eighty per cent of juveniles sentenced under the provisions of the three-strikes legislation are indigenous. The number of adults sentenced under “three strikes” is not clear due to a combination of difficulties in adequately recording these sentences and rare requests for the provisions of the legislation to be implemented at sentencing, in the knowledge that an adult subject to three strikes is likely to be sentenced to more than 12 months imprisonment anyway. The courts have not cooperated in providing this information. However, home burglary is not one of the five major causes of indigenous imprisonment, which is interesting. There is quite a different sentencing consequence for adult Aboriginal people and juvenile Aboriginal people. The five main causes of imprisonment for adult Aboriginal offenders are more related to alcohol-related offences, breaches of conditional release orders, drink-driving offences and personal assaults, usually on other Aboriginal people. However, for the juveniles - mainly but not entirely in the urban population - home burglaries are a significant cause of detention.
Hon PETER FOSS: That is why I am being very careful to let everybody know. That is one of the reasons that I thought the sentencing matrix would be very useful, because it asks the judges to tell us what they are doing as opposed to them saying, “You can work it out for yourself”. Up to 30 June 2000, information from the Children’s Court, which has been very helpful in providing us with information, indicates that there have been a total of 119 sentence events involving 92 individuals, of which 81 were sentenced to detention, three to imprisonment and eight to a conditional release order. Due to the provisions of the Young Offenders Act, the particular offender may well have had more than three strikes and the court has frequently indicated that it was in any event appropriate to detain an offender. The sentencing remarks of the judges show they definitely go through all the alternatives before finally deciding to detain the offenders. Hon Mark Nevill: When are you tabling a review of that Act? Hon PETER FOSS: When it is ready. Eighty per cent of juveniles sentenced under the provisions of the three-strikes legislation are indigenous. The number of adults sentenced under “three strikes” is not clear due to a combination of difficulties in adequately recording these sentences and rare requests for the provisions of the legislation to be implemented at sentencing, in the knowledge that an adult subject to three strikes is likely to be sentenced to more than 12 months imprisonment anyway. The courts have not cooperated in providing this information. However, home burglary is not one of the five major causes of indigenous imprisonment, which is interesting. There is quite a different sentencing consequence for adult Aboriginal people and juvenile Aboriginal people. The five main causes of imprisonment for adult Aboriginal offenders are more related to alcohol-related offences, breaches of conditional release orders, drink-driving offences and personal assaults, usually on other Aboriginal people. However, for the juveniles - mainly but not entirely in the urban population - home burglaries are a significant cause of detention.
Up to 30 June 2000, information from the Children’s Court, which has been very helpful in providing us with information, indicates that there have been a total of 119 sentence events involving 92 individuals, of which 81 were sentenced to detention, three to imprisonment and eight to a conditional release order. Due to the provisions of the Young Offenders Act, the particular offender may well have had more than three strikes and the court has frequently indicated that it was in any event appropriate to detain an offender. The sentencing remarks of the judges show they definitely go through all the alternatives before finally deciding to detain the offenders. Hon Mark Nevill: When are you tabling a review of that Act? Hon PETER FOSS: When it is ready. Eighty per cent of juveniles sentenced under the provisions of the three-strikes legislation are indigenous. The number of adults sentenced under “three strikes” is not clear due to a combination of difficulties in adequately recording these sentences and rare requests for the provisions of the legislation to be implemented at sentencing, in the knowledge that an adult subject to three strikes is likely to be sentenced to more than 12 months imprisonment anyway. The courts have not cooperated in providing this information. However, home burglary is not one of the five major causes of indigenous imprisonment, which is interesting. There is quite a different sentencing consequence for adult Aboriginal people and juvenile Aboriginal people. The five main causes of imprisonment for adult Aboriginal offenders are more related to alcohol-related offences, breaches of conditional release orders, drink-driving offences and personal assaults, usually on other Aboriginal people. However, for the juveniles - mainly but not entirely in the urban population - home burglaries are a significant cause of detention.
Hon Mark Nevill: When are you tabling a review of that Act? Hon PETER FOSS: When it is ready. Eighty per cent of juveniles sentenced under the provisions of the three-strikes legislation are indigenous. The number of adults sentenced under “three strikes” is not clear due to a combination of difficulties in adequately recording these sentences and rare requests for the provisions of the legislation to be implemented at sentencing, in the knowledge that an adult subject to three strikes is likely to be sentenced to more than 12 months imprisonment anyway. The courts have not cooperated in providing this information. However, home burglary is not one of the five major causes of indigenous imprisonment, which is interesting. There is quite a different sentencing consequence for adult Aboriginal people and juvenile Aboriginal people. The five main causes of imprisonment for adult Aboriginal offenders are more related to alcohol-related offences, breaches of conditional release orders, drink-driving offences and personal assaults, usually on other Aboriginal people. However, for the juveniles - mainly but not entirely in the urban population - home burglaries are a significant cause of detention.
Hon PETER FOSS: When it is ready. Eighty per cent of juveniles sentenced under the provisions of the three-strikes legislation are indigenous. The number of adults sentenced under “three strikes” is not clear due to a combination of difficulties in adequately recording these sentences and rare requests for the provisions of the legislation to be implemented at sentencing, in the knowledge that an adult subject to three strikes is likely to be sentenced to more than 12 months imprisonment anyway. The courts have not cooperated in providing this information. However, home burglary is not one of the five major causes of indigenous imprisonment, which is interesting. There is quite a different sentencing consequence for adult Aboriginal people and juvenile Aboriginal people. The five main causes of imprisonment for adult Aboriginal offenders are more related to alcohol-related offences, breaches of conditional release orders, drink-driving offences and personal assaults, usually on other Aboriginal people. However, for the juveniles - mainly but not entirely in the urban population - home burglaries are a significant cause of detention.
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