New Sentencing Laws on Trial

A recent overhaul of sentencing laws in South Australia, designed to reduce the prison population and improve the prospects of offender rehabilitation, are already under attack by prosecutors and the victims rights lobby. Changes introduced in September give the courts more lee-way for home detention and other forms of non-custodial sentencing. Straight off the bat, the DPP has appealed two home detention sentences, arguing that the new laws are unclear about who is eligible for home detention. These appeals should bring some clarity to the laws and, one would hope, strengthen the new sentencing regime.

More worrying are comments from South Australia's Commissioner for Victims' Rights, Michael O'Connell, who says home detention should only be used in exceptional circumstances. While the Commissioner has the job of advocating on behalf of victims, he should be mindful that a safer society is in the best interest of all its citizens, including those who are the victims of crimes. Many people who are harmed by or impacted by the crimes of others may feel that it's in their interest to see punitive prison sentences imposed on the perpetrators because they regard this as a just outcome. But this reasoning fails to take into account that almost all the people we lock up in jail will be released into the community again, and that statistically, they are more likely to commit more crimes after a prison term, causing more harm to the community, than they would after a non-custodial sentence.

What Attorney General John Rau is attempting here is to institute a regime that will impose penalties on wrong-doers while protecting the community from an escalating cycle of crime. I hope the appeals court will support the intention of the new laws and that the Commissioner will recognise his duty to serve the real interests of the victims he represents.