After 11 long years, and in the shadow of an election, Labor has finally acted in accordance with the recommendations of the Law Reform Institute and address concerns about the treatment of sentencing order breaches in Tasmania.
The amendments to the Sentencing Act contained in the Justice and Related Legislation (Further Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill tabled by the Attorney General yesterday appear to be in accordance with the recommendations of the Law Reform Institute’s Final Report on Sentencing released in June 2008 – and flagged as an issue in the Institute’s original issues paper back in August 2002 – in relation to reforming breach proceedings for community service orders, probation orders and rehabilitation program orders.
The Report also recommended that conditions be attached to a suspended sentence to give them some ‘punitive bite’ and address the community’s perception of them as a soft option.
Community Service Orders are extremely beneficial both in terms of rehabilitating offenders and providing a community service and can present a suitable alternative to a short prison sentence, and it was encouraging to see in the Justice Department Annual Report that the number of Orders imposed rose from 593 in 2007-08 to 609 in 2008-09.
It only costs the taxpayer $12.00 per day for supervision of a CSO, compared to $263 per day to keep a prisoner in jail.
However, while it is preferable, and more cost effective, to keep offenders out of prison, the State Government must ensure that resources are available to supervise offenders and stop them offending again.
Last year Justice Tennent said that offenders on probation orders often returned to court saying they had resumed offending after being unable to see a probation officer. Justice Tennent said “we make the orders and unfortunately after that the resources get a bit thin on the ground”. The judge also expressed the view that the range of sentencing options available to judges and magistrates was inadequate.
Why has it taken the Attorney General so long to respond to the various reports and concerns raised in recent years about the treatment of breaches of sentencing orders in Tasmania? What is the Government going to do in response to the many other recommendations contained in the report?
It is now October 2009 and the fact that it has taken this Government so long to respond to a serious issue that has been brought to its attention on a number of occasions demonstrates just how focussed this Government is on its own internal problems at the expense of the good government of Tasmania and the needs of the community.
Labor has had 11 years to make a difference in corrections and nothing will change unless we change the Government.
Dr Vanessa Goodwin MLC Shadow Attorney General
