NCJ Number
139944
Journal
Current Issues in Criminal Justice Volume: 3 Issue: 3 Dated: special issue (March 1992) Pages: 329-334
Date Published
1992
Length
6 pages
Annotation
The Sentencing Act of 1989 in New South Wales deals almost entirely with the sentence of imprisonment and the derivative question of parole, despite the fact that imprisonment is generally the sentencing disposition of local courts in only about 5 percent of the cases and the sentencing disposition of higher courts about 40 to 50 percent of the time.
Abstract
The Act defines the sentence as the total period over which an offender is subject to some form of State sanction. The author contends that prison conditions should be taken into account in the sentencing process. He argues for the direct introduction of such factors as civilized prison conditions, prison overcrowding, access to educational and training programs, and comparative financial costs of various penal measures. He believes that prison conditions should be considered due to a 45-percent population increase in New South Wales that has caused overcrowding, the removal of many accountability and review mechanisms, the intensification of penal discipline, and the reduction in educational and rehabilitative programs. The author also believes that an earned remission system should be reincorporated into the sentencing process to provide for prison system incentives. 16 footnotes