The Tasmanian Director of Civil Liberties Australia has expressed opposition to the Liberal Party policy to abolish suspended sentences, given its potential high budget impact and ineffectiveness in reducing crime.

CLA has conservatively costed the Liberals “Abolishing suspended sentences” policy at $20 million a year (see attached costing). The Liberals have pledged to make the policy cost neutral, meaning the funds would need to be sourced from elsewhere in the Justice Department.

“Tasmania can’t afford to abolish cost effective strategies that reduce reoffending whilst replacing them with more expensive strategies that are not yet proven,” Tasmanian Director of Civil Liberties Australia, Richard Griggs, said.

“Suspended sentences are a cost effective tool for judges to have at their disposal. The available Tasmanian data* tells us they deter re-offending and they do it without significant expense to the taxpayer.

“We were disappointed in the policy announcement earlier in the campaign and more disappointed last week to hear it was not sent to Treasury for costing. So we did the work ourselves and we conservatively calculated the policy to cost $20 million per year once fully implemented.

“If the Liberals do form government on Monday, they should work with the Sentencing Advisory Council to test the existing data that shows suspended sentences work at deterring re-offending. Only if that work sheds doubt on the existing research could we sensibly talk about abolishing suspended sentences”, Richard Griggs concluded.

For comment, contact Richard Griggs: 0438 252 387 or [email protected]

*for Tasmanian data showing suspended sentences deliver lower re-conviction rates see:

Bartels L (2008) page 271, Sword or Feather? The use and utility of suspended sentences in Tasmania available at: http://eprints.utas.edu.au/7735/2/Lorana_Bartels_01Whole.pdf

and

Bartels L (2009), page 92, ‘The weight of the Sword of Damocles: A reconviction analysis of suspended sentences in Tasmania’, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology, 41: 72-100 (available from CLA by request)

Authorised by Richard Griggs, Tasmanian Director for Civil Liberties Australia, www.cla.asn.au

Download, calculations on cost of aboloishing suspended sentences:
calculations_on_cost_of_aboloshing_suspended_sentences.pdf
Richard Griggs, Tasmanian Director for Civil Liberties Australia