Goff seeks bail conditions for deferred sentences

Justice Minister Phil Goff is seeking all-party support to make an addition to the Statutes Amendment Bill requiring bail conditions to be mandatory for offenders who have had their sentences deferred.

Mr Goff said section 100 of the Sentencing Act 2002 stated that offenders granted leave to apply for home detention should be held in prison unless there were special conditions making it more appropriate to release them into the community pending the decision.

"Judges have always had the power to defer the start of a sentence but I suspect they are interpreting the 2002 Act section covering 'special conditions' in a more liberal way than Parliament intended," Mr Goff said.

"Clearly it is desirable that controls are placed on an offender who has been sentenced to imprisonment but who the court decides need not be in prison while awaiting a home detention decision.

"There is also a lack of clarity as to whether judges have the power to impose conditions when deferring a sentence.

"Both those issues will be covered by my amendment to section 100 which will insert a mandatory requirement that prisoners granted a deferral of their sentence be remanded on bail with whatever conditions are deemed appropriate.

"Police will have responsibility for enforcing the conditions which typically involve reporting to Police, living where directed, not associating with specified persons or contacting any victims, confiscation of the offender's passport, and sometimes observing a curfew."

Mr Goff said the amendment would also partly address his concern that some offenders were being granted deferrals after being convicted of crimes that suggested some form of detention was warranted. "Last year 461 offenders had their sentences deferred. While the vast majority of these people had been convicted for less serious crimes such as driving offences (132), cannabis offences (66) and fraud (34), I am concerned that deferral was granted to people convicted of rape (2), kidnapping (4) and aggravated robbery (1), as well as one person who escaped from custody, and others who had breached bail and parole conditions.

"While I don't know the background for all these cases, and there may well be significant mitigating factors, people convicted of such offences should not remain unsupervised in the community for up to two months.

"I want Parliament to act promptly to tighten control over these individuals which is why I am seeking the support of all party leaders to add a Supplementary Order Paper to the Statutes Amendment Bill currently before a Select Committee.

"That is the quickest way to pass into law amendments that I would anticipate all members supporting," Mr Goff said.

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