CRIMES (ADMINISTRATION OF SENTENCES) ACT 1999 - SECT 135
General duty of Parole Authority relating to release of offender
CRIMES (ADMINISTRATION OF SENTENCES) ACT 1999 - SECT 135
General duty of Parole Authority relating to release of offender
135 General duty of Parole Authority relating to release of offender
(1) The
Parole Authority must not make a parole order directing the release of an
offender unless it is satisfied that it is in the interests of the safety of
the community.
(2) In considering whether it is in the interests of the
safety of the community to release an offender, the Parole Authority must have
regard to the following principal matters--
(a) the risk to the safety of
members of the community of releasing the offender on parole,
(b) whether the
release of the offender on parole is likely to address the risk of the
offender re-offending,
(c) the risk to community safety of releasing the
offender at the end of the sentence without a period of supervised parole or
at a later date with a shorter period of supervised parole.
(3) In
considering whether it is in the interests of the safety of the community to
release an offender, the Parole Authority must also have regard to the
following matters--
(a) the nature and circumstances of the offence to which
the offender's sentence relates,
(b) any relevant comments made by the
sentencing court,
(c) the offender's criminal history,
(d) the likely effect
on any victim of the offender, and on any such victim's family, of the
offender being released on parole,
(f) any report in relation to the granting
of parole that has been prepared by a community corrections officer,
(g) any
other report in relation to the granting of parole to the offender that has
been prepared by or on behalf of the Review Council or any other authority of
the State,
(h) if the Drug Court has notified the Parole Authority that it
has declined to make a compulsory drug treatment order in relation to the
offender's sentence on the ground that it is not satisfied as to the matters
referred to in section 18D (1) (b) (vi) of the Drug Court Act 1998, the
circumstances of that decision to decline to make that order,
(i) that an
application that has been made (but not determined) in respect of the
offender--
(j) any other matters that the Parole Authority considers to be
relevant.
(4) Without limiting subsection (3)(j), if the offender has
provided post-sentence assistance, the Parole Authority may have regard to the
following--
(a) the nature and extent of the assistance (including the
reliability and value of any information or evidence provided by the
offender),
(b) the degree to which the offender's willingness to provide
assistance reflects the offender's progress to rehabilitation.
(5) Except in
exceptional circumstances, the Parole Authority must not make a parole order
for a serious offender unless the Review Council advises that it is
appropriate for the offender to be released on parole.
(6) A report prepared
by a community corrections officer for the purposes of subsection (3) must
address the matters prescribed by the regulations for the purposes of this
section.
(7) The Parole Authority, and the Review Council when giving advice
for the purposes of subsection (5), must not have regard to the fact that an
application for a continuing detention order under the Commonwealth Criminal
Code, Part 5.3, Division 105A may be made in relation to the offender.
(8)
The Parole Authority is not required to consider the matters specified by this
section in relation to an offender if it determines under Division 3A that it
cannot make a parole order for the offender.
(9) In this section--
"post-sentence assistance" means assistance in the prevention, detection or
investigation of, or in proceedings relating to, any offence, provided by an
offender to law enforcement authorities after the offender was sentenced and
that was not taken into account or considered by the sentencing court.
