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Death threats top stats for serious reoffending in Vic
Making threats to kill dominated the 2016–17 list of serious offences committed by people on a community correction order in Victoria, and were likely to be committed by men aged under 35, a new report reveals.
Melissa Coade
A new report by the Victorian Sentencing Advisory Council has showed that in the period 2016–17, a total of 258 “threat to kill” charges were laid against Victorians on a community correction order (CCO).
Death threats made up 32.5 per cent of all serious offences committed by people serving a CCOs; followed by threats to inflict serious injury (172 charges); and aggravated burglary offences (152 charges).
The findings were the result of a recent requirement that the Sentencing Advisory Council publish annual figures on the number of serious offence convictions recorded against people who were serving on CCOs.
Monash University’s Emeritus Professor Arie Freiberg, who is the chair of the Sentencing Advisory Council, explained that just because a person had committed a serious offence while serving a CCO did not mean the decision to impose a CCO was wrong in the first place.
“The majority of serious offences committed on a CCO involve threats rather than physical violence,” Professor Freiberg said.
“It is particularly concerning that a small number of very serious offences have been committed by people serving a CCO,” he said.
Professor Freiberg added that the most vulnerable time for an offender was in the months immediately after they have been sentenced.
“This research reinforces the importance of early intervention.
“To prevent reoffending, support services and programs need to start as soon as possible after offenders receive their CCO,” he said.
Professor Freiberg went on to note that the courts had made greater use of CCOs in the last six years. In 2016–17, a total of nearly 7,000 extra offenders received their sentence by way CCO than in 2012–13, he added.
The increase in CCO sentences was due in part to the phasing out of suspended sentences between 2011–14, but was also impacted by a new penalty option in 2014, where CCOs could be combined a prison sentence of up to two years.
More recently, the maximum prison sentence which could be combined with a CCO in Victoria has been reduced to 12 months.
“The CCO is a very important sentencing option for the courts,” Professor Freiberg said.
The Sentencing Advisory Council also reported that people on CCOs committed a small number of very serious offences, with five recorded charges of rape, two charges murder and one charge of manslaughter between 2016–17.
The report added that its serious reoffending figures reflected a small percentage of people on CCOs, with 1.6 per cent of a CCO group of approximately 33,000 having been sentenced for a serious offence committed in the three years to 30 June 2017. A total of 794 serious offences were committed were recorded for this three year period.
Offences classified as “serious” in the Contravention of Community Correction Orders report are defined in Victorian legislation to include violent offences such as armed robbery, aggravated burglary, make threat to kill and intentionally causing serious harm. Sexual offences also fall into the definition to include crimes such as rape and sexual assault.
