Australian Capital Territory Current Acts Australian Capital Territory Current Acts(1) In deciding how an offender should be sentenced for a family violence offence, a court must consider the nature of family violence and the context of the offending, including the following:
(a) the matters mentioned in the preamble to the Family Violence Act 2016
;
(b) whether the offending occurred at the home of the victim, offender or another person;
(c) whether the offending occurred when a child was present;
(d) if the offence is a serious family violence offence—whether the offender has 1 or more other convictions for serious family violence offences.
(2) A court must not reduce the severity of a sentence it would otherwise have imposed because—
(a) the offence is a family violence offence; or
(b) a family violence order under the Family Violence Act 2016
or a protection order under the Domestic Violence and Protection Orders Act 2008
(repealed) is in force against the offender in relation to the family violence offence.
(3) In this section:
"family violence—"see the Family Violence Act 2016
, dictionary.
"serious family violence offence" means a family violence offence that is punishable by imprisonment for 5 years or more.