South Australian Current Acts South Australian Current Acts (1) Subject to
subsection (2), but despite any other Act or law, the following
provisions apply to the sentencing of a person for an offence under this
Division:
(a) a
sentence of imprisonment must be imposed on the person;
(b) the
sentence of imprisonment cannot be suspended;
(c)
section 25 of the Sentencing Act 2017 does not apply;
(d)
section 26 of the Sentencing Act 2017 does not apply (but nothing in this
subsection affects the operation of that section in respect of other offences
for which the person is being sentenced).
(2) A court sentencing
a person for an offence under this Division may declare that
subsection (1), in whole or part, does not apply to the person if he or
she satisfies the court, by evidence given on oath, that exceptional
circumstances exist in the particular case.
(3) If a court finds
that exceptional circumstances exist for the purposes of subsection (2),
the court must give written reasons for so finding.
(4) If a court is
required to fix a non-parole period in relation to the sentencing of a person
for an offence under this Division—
(a) the
standard non-parole period must be taken into account by the court in
determining the appropriate sentence (without limiting the matters that are
otherwise required or permitted to be taken into account in determining the
appropriate sentence); and
(b) if
the court fixes a non-parole period that is longer or shorter than the
standard non-parole period, the court must make a record of its reasons for so
doing and must identify in the record of its reasons each factor that it took
into account.
(5) A requirement
under subsection (4)(b) for a court to make a record of reasons for
fixing a non-parole period that is longer or shorter than a standard
non-parole period does not require the court to identify the extent to which
the seriousness of the offence for which the non-parole period is set differs
from that of an offence to which the standard non-parole period is referable.
(6) A failure of a
court to comply with subsection (4) does not invalidate a sentence.
(7) In this section,
"standard non-parole period —
(a) is
9 months; and
(b)
represents the non-parole period for an offence, being a first offence, in the
middle of the range of objective seriousness for offences in this Division.