Northern Territory Consolidated Acts

SENTENCING ACT - SECT 5

(1) The only purposes for which sentences may be imposed on an offender are:

(a) to punish the offender to an extent or in a way that is just in all the circumstances;

(b) to provide conditions in the court's order that will help the offender to be rehabilitated;

(c) to discourage the offender or other persons from committing the same or a similar offence;

(d) to make it clear that the community, acting through the court, does not approve of the sort of conduct in which the offender was involved;

(e) to protect the Territory community from the offender; or

(f) a combination of 2 or more of the purposes referred to in this subsection.

(2) In sentencing an offender, a court shall have regard to:

(a) the maximum and any minimum penalty prescribed for the offence; and

(b) the nature of the offence and how serious the offence was, including any physical, psychological or emotional harm done to a victim; and

(ba) if the offence is a sexual offence:

(i) whether the victim contracted a sexually transmissible medical condition as a result of the offence; and

(ii) whether the offender was aware at the time of the offence that he or she had a medical condition that could be sexually transmitted; and

(c) the extent to which the offender is to blame for the offence; and

(d) any damage, injury or loss caused by the offender; and

(da) any harm done to a community as a result of the offence (whether directly or indirectly); and

(e) the offender's character, age and intellectual capacity; and

(f) the presence of any aggravating or mitigating factor concerning the offender; and

(g) the prevalence of the offence; and

(h) how much assistance the offender gave to law enforcement agencies in the investigation of the offence or other offences; and

(j) whether the offender pleaded guilty to the offence and, if so, the stage in the proceedings at which the offender did so or indicated an intention to do so; and

(k) time spent in custody by the offender for the offence before being sentenced; and

(m) sentences imposed on, and served by, the offender in a State or another Territory of the Commonwealth for an offence committed at, or about the same time, as the offence with which the court is dealing; and

(n) sentences already imposed on the offender that have not been served; and

(p) sentences that the offender is liable to serve because of the revocation of orders made under this or any other Act for contraventions of conditions by the offender; and

(q) if the offender is the subject of a community work order, the offender's compliance with the order; and

(r) anything else prescribed by this Act to which the court is required to have regard; and

(s) any other relevant circumstance.

(3) For the purposes of subsection (2)(ba):

(a) a certificate by a medical practitioner that a person has (or had at a stated time) a sexually transmissible medical condition is evidence of the existence of that condition; and

(b) if:

(i) a certificate is tendered that the offender had at the relevant time a sexually transmissible medical condition; and

(ii) evidence is given that the victim contracted the medical condition at a time that is consistent with the medical condition being transmitted from the offender,

the contraction by the victim of the medical condition is to be taken to be a result of the offence.

(4) In sentencing an offender, a court:

(a) may have regard to any co-operation by the offender in resolving any action taken against the offender under the Criminal Property Forfeiture Act in relation to the offence or offences for which the offender is being sentenced;

(b) may have regard to a forfeiture order under the Criminal Property Forfeiture Act to the extent that the order relates to property that is crime-used property (within the meaning of that Act) in relation to the offence or offences for which the offender is being sentenced; and

(c) must not make any allowance for any other property that has been or may be forfeited to the Territory by operation of the Criminal Property Forfeiture Act or in any proceedings under that Act in which the offender is, was or may be a respondent.