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SENTENCING (AMENDMENT) BILL 1992
NEW SOUTH WALES
EXPLANATORY NOTE
(This Explanatory Note relates to this Bill as introduced into Parliament)
The object of this Bill is to make several miscellaneous amendments to the
Sentencing Act 1989. The amendments relate to:
(a) the release on parole of prisoners whose parole has previously been revoked;
and
(b) the custody of persons arrested in relation to suspected breaches of parole; and
(c) the composition of the Offenders Review Board.
The amendments are explained more fully below.
Clause 1 specifies the short title of the proposed Act.
Clause 2 provides for the commencement of the proposed Act on a proclaimed day
or days.
Clause 3 is a formal provision giving effect to the Schedule of amendments to the
Act.
Clause 4 preserves the holding of office by the existing members of the Offenders
Review Board and makes other appropriate savings and transitional provisions.
SCHEDULE 1--AMENDMENTS
Release of prisoners on parole
Section 25 empowers the Offenders Review Board to order the release on parole of a
prisoner in certain circumstances even if a previous parole order in respect of that
prisoner has been revoked, provided that the remainder of the prisoner's sentence
exceeds 6 months.
Period of custody of person arrested in respect of parole
Under section 36 as currently in force, a person arrested pursuant to a warrant issued
in relation to a suspected contravention of a term or condition of the person's parole can
be returned to prison, or removed to a place of custody or to court, and detained pending
an inquiry to determine whether or not the parole was breached. The section authorises
the person's detention until the warrant is revoked by the court or the Board or until the
expiration of a period of 7 days after the warrant was issued--whichever detention is the
shorter.
Schedule 1 (2) amends section 36 so as to allow the person to be detained, in a case
where the warrant is not sooner revoked, for a maximum of 7 days after the person was
returned to prison or removed into custody or to court pursuant to the warrant.
Composition of Offenders Review Board
All 9 members of the Board are currently appointed by the Governor.
Schedule 1 (3) repeals and replaces section 45 to provide that 2 of the members (the
one from the Police Service and the one from the Community Corrections Service, as
the Probation and Parole Service is now known) are not to be appointed by the
Governor but are, instead, to be nominated by senior officers of their respective
organisations.
Schedule 1 (4) makes a series of consequential or complementary amendments to
Schedule 1 (which contains provisions relating to the members of the Offenders Review
Board).