Our Director, Michael Gatenby spoke to the Gold Coast Bulletin about the issues with the Parole Board being given sufficient resources to respond to Parole Applications.
21
May
Tag: Parole
On 26 October 2017, the Sentencing Advisory Council received Terms of Reference from the Attorney General regarding “community-based sentencing orders, imprisonment and parole options”. At the core of the sentencing process is the effective rehabilitation, reintegration and supervision of prisoners released into the community. Other than those serving a life sentence, there must be an acknowledgment that at some point an offender will be released back into the community. Parole is crucial in reducing the risk of re-offending by those under supervision, prior to the end of their sentence. Sofronoff Report The terms of reference are in response to the recommendations …
Continue reading “Sentencing Advisory Council – Intermediate Sentencing Options and Parole”
The Government today outlined its new coward punch laws and other increased penalties under its draft ‘Safe Night Out Strategy. In what seems to be a theme of the current government’s legislative platform, existing charges are to be replicated with newly created offences and penalties increased. The government has adopted the big stick approach by increasing the maximum penalty for drunken behaviour in an effort to deter outrageous drunken violence. The problem with this approach is that young, drunken, predominately men, are unlikely to consider the outcome of their actions whilst drunk and accordingly, unlikely to think about the massive penalties the …
Continue reading “Life imprisonment for so called "Coward Punches"”
The Attorney-General is to appeal the Cowan sentence imposed in the Brisbane Supreme Court. Attorney-General and Minister for Justice Jarrod Bleijie has instructed the Director of Public Prosecutions to appeal the sentence of Brett Peter Cowan, who was convicted of murdering Sunshine Coast teenager Daniel Morcombe in 2003. The Attorney-General has advised Crown Prosecutors that he is of the view that the non-parole period that was sentence must be appealed because it is manifestly inadequate, is not in line with community expectations and does not set an adequate deterrent. The sentence imposed by The Honourable Justice R Atkinson in the …
Continue reading “Attorney-General to appeal Cowan sentence”