PENALTIES AND SENTENCES ACT 1992 - SECT 161R Court must impose term of imprisonment

PENALTIES AND SENTENCES ACT 1992 - SECT 161R

161R Court must impose term of imprisonment

(1) This section applies to the sentencing of an offender convicted of a prescribed offence committed with a serious organised crime circumstance of aggravation.

(2) The court must impose on the offender a term of imprisonment consisting of the following components—

(a) a sentence of imprisonment for the prescribed offence imposed under the law apart from this part and without regard to the following (the
"base component" )—

(i) the sentence that must be imposed on the offender under paragraph (b) ;

(ii) the control order that must be made for the offender under section 161V ;

(b) (other than if a sentence of life imprisonment is imposed as the base component or the offender is already serving a term of life imprisonment) a sentence of imprisonment (the
"mandatory component" ) for the lesser of the following periods—

(i) 7 years;

(ii) the period of imprisonment provided for under the maximum penalty for the prescribed offence.

Note—

See the Corrective Services Act 2006 , sections 181 (2A) and (2B) and 181A (3) and (4) in relation to the parole eligibility date of an offender whose sentence under this subsection does not include a mandatory component.

(3) The mandatory component—

(a) must be ordered to be served cumulatively with the base component; and

(b) despite any other provision of this Act under which another sentence may be ordered, must be ordered to be served wholly in a corrective services facility; and

(c) must not be mitigated or reduced under this Act or another Act or any law.

(4) Also, if the offender is serving, or has been sentenced to serve, imprisonment for another offence, the mandatory component must be ordered to be served cumulatively with the imprisonment for the other offence.

(5) Despite subsection (3) (a) , if the base component does not require the offender to immediately serve a sentence of imprisonment in a corrective services facility—

(a) the offender is to immediately begin to serve the mandatory component; and

(b) the base component is to have effect, so far as practicable, at the end of the mandatory component.

(6) If the court is sentencing the offender for more than 1 prescribed offence committed with a serious organised crime circumstance of aggravation, the court must impose the mandatory component for only 1 of the offences.

(7) When deciding which prescribed offence to use for imposing the mandatory component, the court must choose the offence that will result in the offender serving the longest period of imprisonment available under this Act or another Act for the offences.