Sentencing Drug Offenders: An Analysis of Sentences Imposed in the Higher Courts of New South Wales: 1 January 1992 to 31 December 1997

• NCJ Number: 182349
• Author(s): Ivan Potas; Patrizia Poletti
• Date Published: September 1999
• Length: 95 pages
• Corporate Author: Judicial Cmssn of New South Wales
• Sale Source: Judicial Cmssn of New South Wales
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: Australia
• Note: Monograph Series No. 19

Annotation

This analysis of sentences for drug law offenses in higher courts of New South Wales, Australia, during 1992-1997 revealed that the most common drugs involved in importation offenses handled as Commonwealth offenses were heroin and cocaine and that State drug offenses represented 90.8 percent of all drug law offenses handled in higher courts.

Abstract

A total of 35.1 percent of the offenders charged in the Commonwealth offenders acted as couriers. A total of 82.6 percent of all the Commonwealth offenders pleaded guilty; 70.8 percent of all the offenders had no prior record of offenders. The State offenses covered a much wider range of offenses than did the Commonwealth offenses and included supply, cultivation, manufacture, and possession. A total of 69.8 percent of the offenses were supply offenses; 82.5 percent of the offenses related to less than commercial quantity. Forty-four percent of the offenders had prior convictions for drug law offenses; just over one quarter had no prior convictions at all. State drug offenders were less likely than Commonwealth drug offenders to be sentenced to a term of imprisonment (45.7 percent compared with 92.8 percent). Sentencing factors included the type of offense, the role of the offender, the type of drug involved in the offense, and the scheduled amount of the drug. Figures, tables, footnotes, and appended tables