CRIMES (SENTENCING PROCEDURE) ACT 1999 - SECT 23 Power to reduce penalties for assistance provided to law enforcement authorities

CRIMES (SENTENCING PROCEDURE) ACT 1999 - SECT 23

23 Power to reduce penalties for assistance provided to law enforcement authorities

(1) A court may impose a lesser penalty than it would otherwise impose on an offender, having regard to the degree to which the offender has assisted, or undertaken to assist, law enforcement authorities in the prevention, detection or investigation of, or in proceedings relating to, the offence concerned or any other offence.

(2) In deciding whether to impose a lesser penalty for an offence and the nature and extent of the penalty it imposes, the court must consider the following matters--

(b) the significance and usefulness of the offender's assistance to the authority or authorities concerned, taking into consideration any evaluation by the authority or authorities of the assistance rendered or undertaken to be rendered,

(c) the truthfulness, completeness and reliability of any information or evidence provided by the offender,

(d) the nature and extent of the offender's assistance or promised assistance,

(e) the timeliness of the assistance or undertaking to assist,

(f) any benefits that the offender has gained or may gain by reason of the assistance or undertaking to assist,

(g) whether the offender will suffer harsher custodial conditions as a consequence of the assistance or undertaking to assist,

(h) any injury suffered by the offender or the offender's family, or any danger or risk of injury to the offender or the offender's family, resulting from the assistance or undertaking to assist,

(i) whether the assistance or promised assistance concerns the offence for which the offender is being sentenced or an unrelated offence,

(3) A lesser penalty that is imposed under this section in relation to an offence must not be unreasonably disproportionate to the nature and circumstances of the offence.

(4) A court that imposes a lesser penalty under this section on an offender because the offender has assisted, or undertaken to assist, law enforcement authorities must--

(a) indicate to the offender, and make a record of the fact, that the lesser penalty is being imposed for either or both of those reasons, and

(b) state the penalty that it would otherwise have imposed, and

(c) where the lesser penalty is being imposed for both reasons--state the amount by which the penalty has been reduced for each reason.

(5) Subsection (4) does not limit any requirement that a court has, apart from that subsection, to record the reasons for its decisions.

(6) The failure of a court to comply with the requirements of subsection (4) with respect to any sentence does not invalidate the sentence.