Justice Legislation Amendment (Parole Reform and Other Matters) Act 2016

No. 76 of 2016

TABLE OF PROVISIONSSection Page

Part 1—Preliminary 1

1 Purposes 12 Commencement 2

Part 2—Amendments relating to parole in relation to murder of a police officer 3

3 New section 74AAA inserted 34 Release on parole of person imprisoned for sexual offence or

serious violent offence 4

Part 3—Amendments relating to no body cases 5

Division 1—Corrections Act 1986 5

5 Victim may be given certain copies of orders and information about a prisoner 5

6 New section 74AABA inserted 67 Cancellation of parole 88 New section 127 inserted 9

Division 2—Sentencing Act 1991 9

9 Sentencing guidelines 910 New section 161 inserted 10

Part 4—Repeal of amending Act 11

11 Repeal of amending Act 11═══════════════

Endnotes 12

1 General information 12

1

Justice Legislation Amendment (Parole Reform and Other Matters) Act 2016†

No. 76 of 2016

[Assented to 13 December 2016]

The Parliament of Victoria enacts:

Part 1—Preliminary1 Purposes

The purposes of this Act are—

(a) to amend the Corrections Act 1986—

(i) in relation to conditions for the making of a parole order in relation to a prisoner convicted and sentenced to a term of imprisonment with a non-parole

Victoria

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period for the murder of a police officer; and

(ii) to provide for a presumption against parole for prisoners serving terms of imprisonment for certain fatal offences where the body or remains of the victim have not been located; and

(b) to amend the Sentencing Act 1991 to permit a court to take the factors referred to in paragraph (a)(ii) into account in such circumstances.

2 Commencement

(1) This Act (except Division 2 of Part 3) comes into operation on the day after the day on which it receives the Royal Assent.

(2) Subject to subsection (3), Division 2 of Part 3 comes into operation on a day to be proclaimed.

(3) If Division 2 of Part 3 does not come into operation before 6 June 2017, it comes into operation on that day.

Section Page

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Part 2—Amendments relating to parole in relation to murder of a police officer

3 New section 74AAA inserted

After section 74 of the Corrections Act 1986 insert—

"74AAA Conditions for making a parole order for prisoner who murdered police officer

(1) The Board must not make a parole order under section 74 or 78 in respect of a prisoner convicted and sentenced (whether before, on or after this section comes into operation) to a term of imprisonment with a non-parole period for the murder of a person who the prisoner knew was, or was reckless as to whether the person was, a police officer, unless an application for the parole order is made to the Board by or on behalf of the prisoner.

(2) The application must be lodged with the secretary of the Board.

(3) In considering the application, the Board must have regard to the record of the court in relation to the offending, including the judgment and the reasons for sentence.

(4) After considering the application, the Board must not make a parole order under section 74 or 78 (as the case may be) in respect of the prisoner unless the Board—

(a) is satisfied (on the basis of a report prepared by the Secretary to the Department) that the prisoner—

(i) is in imminent danger of dying, or is seriously incapacitated and, as a result, the prisoner no longer has

Part 4—Repeal of amending Act

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the physical ability to do harm to any person; and

(ii) has demonstrated that the prisoner does not pose a risk to the community; and

(b) is further satisfied that, because of those circumstances, the making of the parole order is justified.

(5) For the avoidance of doubt, section 73A also applies to the determination of the Board under this section.

(6) In this section, police officer means a police officer—

(a) who, at the time the murder of that police officer occurred, was performing any duty or exercising any power of a police officer; or

(b) the murder of whom arose from or was connected with the police officer's role as a police officer, whether or not the police officer was performing any duty or exercising any power of a police officer at the time of the murder.".

4 Release on parole of person imprisoned for sexual offence or serious violent offence

At the foot of section 74AAB(3) of the Corrections Act 1986 insert—"Note

A prisoner who is required to go through the process set out in section 74AAA would still obtain an order under section 74 or 78.".

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Part 3—Amendments relating to no body cases

Division 1—Corrections Act 19865 Victim may be given certain copies of orders and

information about a prisoner

After section 30A(1B) of the Corrections Act 1986 insert—

"(1C) Subject to subsection (3) and section 30G, the Secretary must notify a person included on the victims register in respect of an offence to which section 74AABA applies of—

(a) the release of the prisoner on parole; or

(b) a decision not to release the prisoner on parole.

(1D) A notification under subsection (1C) must be made—

(a) in the case of a decision under subsection (1C)(a), at least 14 days before the release of the prisoner on parole; or

(b) in the case of a decision under subsection (1C)(b), within 14 days after the decision is made.".

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6 New section 74AABA inserted

After section 74AA of the Corrections Act 1986 insert—

"74AABA Conditions for making a parole order for person imprisoned for certain fatal offences

(1) The Board must not make a parole order under section 74 or 78 in respect of a prisoner serving a sentence of imprisonment for an offence of murder, conspiracy to murder, accessory to murder or manslaughter unless the Board is satisfied that the prisoner has cooperated satisfactorily in the investigation of the offence to identify—

(a) the location, or the last known location, of the body or remains of the victim of the offence; and

(b) the place where the body or remains of the victim of the offence may be found.

Note

See section 5(2CA) of the Sentencing Act 1991.

(2) Subsection (1) also applies in the case of a corresponding offence committed outside Victoria for which the prisoner is serving a sentence of imprisonment in Victoria, having been transferred to Victoria under the Prisoners (Interstate Transfer) Act 1983.

(3) For the purposes of subsection (1), the Board must have regard to the following—

(a) a report by the Chief Commissioner of Police evaluating the prisoner's cooperation in the investigation of the offence;

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(b) a report from the Secretary to the Department in respect of whether the prisoner is suitable for release on parole;

(c) the capacity of the prisoner to cooperate in the investigation of the offence, which may include information provided in a report under paragraph (a) or (b);Examples

A mental or physical infirmity, such as age, cognitive impairment, mental impairment, dementia or a decline in memory.

(d) the record of the court in relation to the offending, including the judgment and the reasons for sentence;

(e) any other information regarding whether the body or remains of a deceased victim was or were recovered as a result of the prisoner's cooperation in the investigation of the offence;

(f) any submission to the Board by a victim under section 74A.

(4) A report referred to in subsection (3)(a) must include an evaluation of the following—

(a) the nature and extent of the prisoner's cooperation;

(b) the timeliness of the prisoner's cooperation;

(c) the truthfulness, completeness, reliability and credibility of any information or evidence provided by the prisoner;

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(d) the significance and usefulness of the prisoner's cooperation, including, but not limited to, information ascertained from the Crown's case put at trial if that case includes reference to whether the prisoner was acknowledged to have information relevant to—

(i) the location, or the last known location, of the body or remains of the victim of the offence; and

(ii) the place where the body or remains of the victim of the offence may be found.

(5) Cooperation referred to in this section may occur before or after the prisoner was sentenced to imprisonment.

(6) For the avoidance of doubt, section 73A also applies to the determination of the Board under this section.".

7 Cancellation of parole

In section 77(9) of the Corrections Act 1986, after paragraph (b)(iii) of the definition of serious violent offence insert—

"(iv) section 325(1) (accessories), in circumstances where the principal offender has committed murder;".

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8 New section 127 inserted

After section 126 of the Corrections Act 1986 insert—

"127 Transitional—Justice Legislation Amendment (Parole Reform and Other Matters) Act 2016

Without limiting the application of the amendments made by Division 1 of Part 3 of the Justice Legislation Amendment (Parole Reform and Other Matters) Act 2016 in respect of applications for parole that are made on or after the commencement of those amendments, the amendments made by that Division also apply to an application for parole that is made, but has not been determined, before that Division comes into operation.".

Division 2—Sentencing Act 19919 Sentencing guidelines

After section 5(2C) of the Sentencing Act 1991 insert—

"(2CA) In sentencing an offender who has been found guilty of murder, conspiracy to murder, accessory to murder or manslaughter in circumstances in which the body or remains of the deceased victim have not been located, a court may have regard to whether the offender has cooperated in the investigation of the offence to identify—

(a) the location, or last known location, of that body or those remains; and

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(b) the place where the body or remains of the victim of the offence may be found.".

10 New section 161 inserted

At the end of Part 12 of the Sentencing Act 1991 insert—

"161 Transitional—Justice Legislation Amendment (Parole Reform and Other Matters) Act 2016

The amendment to section 5 by the Justice Legislation Amendment (Parole Reform and Other Matters) Act 2016 applies to the sentencing of an offender on or after the commencement of section 9 of that Act irrespective of when the offence was committed or the finding of guilt was made.".

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Part 4—Repeal of amending Act11 Repeal of amending Act

This Act is repealed on 6 June 2018.Note

The repeal of this Act does not affect the continuing operation of the amendments made by it (see section 15(1) of the Interpretation of Legislation Act 1984).

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Endnotes1 General information

See www.legislation.vic.gov.au for Victorian Bills, Acts and current authorised versions of legislation and up-to-date legislative information.

Endnotes

Justice Legislation Amendment (Parole Reform and Other Matters) Act 2016No. 76 of 2016

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† Minister's second reading speech—

Legislative Assembly: 6 December 2016

Legislative Council: 7 December 2016

The long title for the Bill for this Act was "A Bill for an Act to amend the Corrections Act 1986 to provide for a presumption against parole for prisoners serving terms of imprisonment for certain fatal offences where the victim is a police officer or where the body or remains of the victim have not been located and to amend the Sentencing Act 1991 to permit a court to take such factors into account in such circumstances and for other purposes."