A joint project of the National Judicial College of Australia, the Commonwealth
Director of Public Prosecutions, and the Judicial Commission of NSW
Last updated: 03 May 2012
List of subheadings:
Introduction
Background and Purpose
Layout of the Guide
Feedback
Introduction
The 'Principles and Practice' component of the Commonwealth Sentencing Database has been developed primarily to assist judicial officers sentencing federal offenders to navigate the provisions of Part IB of the Crimes Act 1914 (Cth).
Part IB of the Crimes Act 1914 (Cth) provides a sentencing regime for federal offenders [1]. However Part IB is not a comprehensive scheme listing all the principles that may govern the sentencing of a convicted federal offender. Some sections in Part IB expressly pick up and apply the sentencing law of the State or Territory in which the federal offender is sentenced. Other aspects of sentencing are governed by common law as interpreted by the courts.
This component refers
to cases and other sources relevant to understanding Part IB, State and
Territory law and the common law in so far as they relate to sentencing
of a convicted federal offender.
Users
can approach the guide in a number of ways:
by browsing the Index of Topics
by browsing the Table of Cases
by browsing the Index of Provisions in
Part IB
Background and Purpose
The Principles and Practice component is a joint project of the National Judicial College of Australia and the ANU College of Law.
It is edited by Wendy Kukulies-Smith, a Teaching Fellow at the ANU College of Law and current PhD candidate. Wendy currently teaches Criminal Law and Procedure at ANU, and she has also taught Legal Theory and Foundations of Australian Law.
Two Research Assistants are responsible for content development and the day to day management of the databse. They are Ji-Shen Loong and Sally Renouf.
The purpose of the principle and practice component is to describe and disseminate information on the federal sentencing regime set out in Part 1B of the Commonwealth Crimes Act. In doing so, it aims to foster consistency in the sentencing of federal offenders.
More specifically, the principles and practice component seeks to provide a clear and concise guide to the rules, principles and considerations which arise in federal sentencing. It provides commentary on each of the federal sentencing provisions and hyperlinks to cases and legislation. It aims to facilitate quick and easy access to leading cases, federal sentencing principles and where possible developing federal sentencing practice.
Layout of the Component
The Commonwealth Sentencing 'Principles and Practice' has been divided into eight broad sections:
1 Introduction
to Part IB of the Crimes Act 1914 (Cth)
2 General Sentencing Principles
3 Sentencing Options
4 Discounts and Remissions
5 Particular Issues in Sentencing
6 Categories of Federal Offenders
7 Ancillary Orders
8 Commonly Prosecuted
Federal Offences
Key Features
In the component, where a provision is cited on its own (for example, s 16A(2)) generally this is a reference to a provision of the Crimes Act 1914 (Cth). References to provisions which are contained in other federal or State and Territory Acts are always fully referenced. Hyperlinks have been provided to online versions of the legislation rather than extracting the full provision in the commentary.
The cases in this guide are linked to publicly available databases such as Austlii and State and Territory Court websites. Therefore case citations in this guide are frequently to the medium neutral citation (in accordance with where the link directs the user) rather than the reported series. Note: Austlii frequently lists the reported citations for a case.
Each entry in the guide is contained on one continuous html page (which may equate to many printed pages) so that users may easily print off all the commentary for a particular issue. Where various provisions or principles interact, the commentary directs the user to other related and relevant entries in the guide. To assist with navigation within a page there is a list of hyperlinked subheadings at the beginning of each entry. A link is also provided to the [TOP] of each page following each part of the commentary.
Feedback
This guide was developed by the National Judicial College of Australia and the ANU College of Law in conjunction with the Judicial Commission of New South Wales. The commentary has been reviewed by a panel of academics from the ANU College of Law and by a panel of Judicial Officers.
We welcome feedback on the Commonwealth Sentencing "Practice and Principles". Comments and suggestions can be forwarded to the Director of the National Judicial College of Australia by email to ea@njca.anu.edu.au
Footnotes
[1] Second reading speech on the introduction of the Crimes Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 2) 1989.