Northern Territory Second Reading Speeches
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CRIMINAL CODE AMENDMENT BILL (NO 5) 1998
(This an uncorrected proof of the daily report. It is made available under the condition that it is recognised as such.)
Bills presented a read a first time.
Mr STONE (Attorney-General): Madam Speaker, I move that the bills be now read a second time.
The purpose of these bills is to make amendments to the Sentencing Act and the Juvenile Justice Act and the consequential amendment to the Criminal Code to increase penalties imposed for offences committed against vulnerable victims. Amendments will also be made to the Sentencing Act to increase minimum non-parole periods for certain sexual offences against children, the mentally ill and handicapped persons.
Firstly, in relation to the vulnerable victims provisions, in recent times the community has expressed concern over the apparent increase in offences against children and the elderly. It is clear that the community is loosing patience with criminals who break and enter into homes of the elderly and perpetrate unacceptable acts upon them. There is a community groundswell against criminals who commit offences against vulnerable victims. It has become clear that sentences handed down to such offenders doe not always accord with the community’s view of the punishment which should be meted out to these people. These bills ensure that the vulnerability of the victim will be considered in sentencing.
The new provisions will increase the punishment of these offenders, both adult and juvenile, who take advantage of vulnerable people such as the elderly and the very young in committing offences. They also apply where the offender was unaware of the vulnerability of his or her victim at the time of the offence. In other words, offenders must take the victim as they find them.
An offence committed against a vulnerable victim will increase the term of imprisonment or detention that would otherwise have been imposed by 25%. This will even allow the court to impose a sentence which exceeds the current maximum term of imprisonment or detention by up to 25%. The court, in determining whether a victim is vulnerable, may take into account the number of factors including:
the personal circumstances of the victim;
the relative ages of the victim and offender;
the relative physical sizes and strengths of the victim and the offender;
the relative physical and mental capacities of the vicitim and the offender; and
the relationship (if any) between the victim and the offender.
Madam Speaker, this latter point refers particularly to relationships of trust or professional responsibility, for example student/teacher or patient/doctor relationship.
These amendments will ensure that, where the court determines that the victim was vulnerable, the term of imprisonment or detention is increased by 25%. It is envisaged that the vulnerable victim provisions will operate in the following way.
First, the court must find the offender guilty of an offence. The court then determines whether a term of imprisonment or detention is appropriate. If that is so, the court may then make a determination of vulnerability, either of its own motion or as a result of an application by the prosecutor.
If a determination of vulnerability is in fact made, the court will be obliged to increase by 25% the term of imprisonment or period of detention that, but for the determination, it would have imposed on the offender.
The vulnerable victim provisions will apply to any offence, including property offences subject to mandatory periods of imprisonment or detention. If the offence is subject to a mandatory period of detention of 28 days and the court makes a finding of vulnerability, the court must increase the mandatory period of detention by 25% to 35 days.
The same principle applies if the court imposes a term of imprisonment or detention which includes a mandatory period of imprisonment or detention. As an example, there may be a case where, in the absence of vulnerability, the appropriate sentence would be a 28-day term of imprisonment which includes a 14-day mandatory period. If the court makes a determination of vulnerability, it must increase the overall term of imprisonment by 25% from 28 to 35 days. The 14-day mandatory period of imprisonment would be increased by 25% to 17 days, after rounding down to the nearest day. The court would then have the discretion as to manner in which the remaining 18 days of the sentence are to be served. For example, suspended sentence, home detention or further incarceration.
The bill does not affect other provisions of the Sentencing Act, which allow a term of imprisonment to be able to be suspended or served under a home detention order. That is, save for the provisions in respect of mandatory sentencing, the court may still suspend or make a home detention order in relation to a sentence effected by the vulnerable victim provisions.
The new provisions are clearly intended to apply to offences against the elderly, handicapped or infirm victims and child abuse. Other situations where the new laws may operate include:
where a carer in a position of trust uses a keycard or handycard to steal money from an elderly couple’s bank account; or where an offender defrauds a victim with an intellectual disability, even if that disability may not have been immediately apparent.
I believe that the vulnerable victim provisions are an appropriate response to an issue of public concern and will ensure that offenders are adequately punished where their actions impact upon vulnerable members of the community.
I now turn to the second issue of minimum non-parole periods. The Sentencing Amendment Bill includes certain sexual offences against children and mentally ill or handicapped persons in section 55 of the act, thereby increasing the minimum non-parole periods for those offences from the general principle of not less than 50% of the relevant period of imprisonment to not less than 70% thereof.
The bill expands the category of offences to include sexual intercourse, or gross indecency involving females under 16 years, incest which involves children, unlawful sexual relationships with children, and sexual intercourse by a provider of services to mentally ill or handicapped persons. The increase to the minimum non-parole periods for these and other specified offences reflects the seriousness with which such offences are viewed by the community and this government.
As members will be aware, my government is firmly committed to its law and order package. These policies and amendments will further those policies by deterring would-be offenders and adequately punishing those who are found guilty. I hope that the examples provided in the second reading speech obviate the need of any presiding magistrate or judge who might question what the parliament actually intended. I hope that it has been spelt out very, very clearly. I commend the bills to honourable members.
Mr Coulter: Hear, hear!
Debate adjourned.
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