NCJ Number
101301
Journal
Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology Volume: 18 Issue: 4 Dated: (December 1985) Pages: 272-283
Date Published
1985
Length
12 pages
Annotation
The history of legislative attempts in New South Wales, Australia, to reduce the length of time spent by offenders in custody is reviewed; reasons for the failure of these legislative attempts are examined.
Abstract
These failures provide the context for an analysis of sentencing patterns before and after the introduction of the 1984 Probation and Parole Act. The Act applied remissions to the minimum periods of sentences, thus considerably reducing judicial control over the amount of time an offender actually spends in custody. Evidence is adduced to show that judges and magistrates responded to this reform by increasing minimum periods. The implications of this fact and previous failures to control sentence length are examined. Figures and 52 notes. (Author abstract modified)