Victorian Consolidated Legislation

Confiscation Act 1997 - SECT 67

Assessment of benefits

67. Assessment of benefits



(1) For the purposes of this Part, the value of the benefits derived by a
defendant in relation to an offence may include-

   (aa) any money actually received as a result of the commission of the
        offence, regardless of expenditures incurred in deriving that money;

   (a)  any property that was derived or realised, directly or indirectly, by
        the defendant or another person, at the request or by the direction of
        the defendant, as the result of the commission of the offence;

   (b)  any benefit, service or financial advantage provided for the defendant
        or another person, at the request or by the direction of the
        defendant, as the result of the commission of the offence;

   (c)  any increase in the total value of property in which the defendant has
        an interest in the period beginning immediately before the commission
        of the offence and ending at some time after the commission of the
        offence that the court is not satisfied was due to causes unrelated to
        the commission of the offence;

   (d)  subject to subsection (3), any profits derived by the defendant, or by
        another person on the defendant's behalf or at the request or by the
        direction of the defendant, from a depiction of the offence or an
        expression of the defendant's thoughts, opinions or emotions regarding
        the offence in-

   (i)  a film, slide, video tape, video disc or any other form of recording
        from which a visual image can be produced; or

   (ii) a record, tape, compact disc or any other form of recording from which
        words or sounds can be produced; or

   (iii) a book, newspaper, magazine or other written or pictorial matter; or

   (iv) a radio or television production; or

   (v)  a live entertainment of any kind;

   (e)  any other thing that the court thinks fit to treat as benefits-

but must not include any property forfeited to the Minister under this Act.

(2) For the purposes of subsection (1)(c), if an offence is committed between
2 dates, the period begins immediately before the earlier of the 2 dates and
ends at some time after the later of the 2 dates.

(3) In considering whether to treat profits of a kind referred to in
subsection (1)(d) as benefits derived in relation to the offence, the court
may have regard to any matters that it thinks fit including-

   (a)  whether it is not in the public interest to treat them as benefits;
        and

   (b)  whether the depiction or expression has any general social or
        educational value; and

   (c)  the nature and purposes of the publication, production or
        entertainment including its use for research, educational or
        rehabilitation purposes.

Note Property is defined as including any interest in property: see section
3(1).