Victorian Consolidated Legislation

Sentencing Act 1991 - SECT 93A

Hospital security orders

93A. Hospital security orders



(1) A court may make a hospital security order for a person who is found
guilty of an offence, by way of sentence, if-



   (a)  the court is satisfied, by the production of a certificate in the
        prescribed form of a psychiatrist and any other evidence that it may
        require, that-

   (i)  the person appears to be mentally ill; and

   (ii) the person's mental illness requires treatment and that treatment can
        be obtained by the person being subject to a hospital security order;
        and

   (iii) because of the person's mental illness, the detention and treatment
        of the person in an approved mental health service is necessary for
        his or her health or safety (whether to prevent a deterioration in the
        person's physical or mental condition or otherwise) or for the
        protection of members of the public; and

   (b)  the court has received a report in the prescribed form from the
        authorised psychiatrist of the approved mental health service in which
        the person is proposed to be detained and treated-

   (i)  recommending the making of the order; and

   (ii) stating that there are facilities or services available in that
        service for the treatment of the person.

(2) A court must not make a hospital security order unless, but for the mental
illness of the person, the court would have sentenced the person to a term of
imprisonment.



(3) In determining whether or not to make a hospital security order for a
person, the court must consider the person's current mental condition, his or
her medical, psychiatric and forensic history and his or her social
circumstances.

(4) A hospital security order must specify the duration of the order, which
must not exceed the period of imprisonment to which the person would have been
sentenced had the order not been made.

Note See section 18E, which provides for indefinite hospital security orders.

(5) A hospital security order is sufficient authority for the detention of the
person who is subject to the order in an approved mental health service.

(6) A court, when making a hospital security order, must fix a non-parole
period in accordance with section 11 as if the order were a term of
imprisonment.

(7) If at any time before the end of the period specified in a hospital
security order an order is made under section 44 or 45 of the
Mental Health Act 1986 that the person be discharged as a security patient,
the hospital security order has effect as a sentence of imprisonment for the
unexpired portion of it and that unexpired portion must be served in a prison
unless the person is released on parole.

Note Under section 16A of the Mental Health Act 1986, a person who is serving
a sentence in a prison under subsection (7) may be transferred to an approved
mental health service under his or her hospital security order.