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Early guilty pleas no longer get 40 per cent sentence discount
Criminals will no longer receive a 40 per cent discount off their sentence if they enter an early guilty plea for serious crimes in South Australia.
Tony Zhang
The state government’s legislation, which abolishes the ability to reduce jail sentences by up to 40 per cent for early guilty pleas, was passed by the upper house on Tuesday.
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Criminals will only have access to a 25 per cent discount if they plead guilty early to serious crimes.
Attorney-General Vickie Chapman said the complexity of the legal changes required was to blame for the time taken for laws to change.
Ms Chapman said there had been “too many” cases in which serious criminals had received up to a 40 per cent discount.
The legislation “corrects a problem created in 2013 when the former Labor Government introduced discounts of up to 40 per cent for serious offenders entering an early guilty plea,” according to Ms Chapman.
“Forty per cent discounts for indictable offences for an early guilty plea have resulted in far too many sentences that didn’t reflect the seriousness of the crime,” she said.
“The goal here is to strike the right balance between encouraging early guilty pleas, while ensuring justice is seen to be done.”
Laws allowing judges to give up to a 40 per cent discount for early guilty pleas for major indictable offences were introduced by the former Labor government in 2013, but the current government sought a review on taking office.
That report by Brian Martin SC was with the government for a year and soon after Labor drafted its own bill in July.
The government then drafted its own based on the recommendations, which said the discount should be slashed.
A number of significant cases in which sentencing discounts have been applied have drawn criticism in SA. They include the punishment handed down to Hamzeh Bahrami and along with Andrew Hallcroft, in the so-called wheelie bin murder, who received a 30 per cent discount and just a 15 year non-parole period for the brutal stabbing and dismemberment of Allan Ryan.
The new laws would apply to guilty pleas for some major indictable offences – such as manslaughter, causing death by dangerous driving, rape and unlawful sexual intercourse.
When a guilty plea is entered after the first four weeks but on the day of, or before, the committal appearance, a defendant can receive a sentencing discount of up to 15 per cent, down from up to 30 per cent.
A 20 per cent discount for entering a guilty plea from the day after the committal appearance until the defendant is committed to stand trial will be dropped to a 10 per cent discount.
Those who enter a guilty plea between being committed to stand trial and immediately after the first arraignment date will be eligible for up to a 5 per cent discount, reduced from 15 per cent.
Meanwhile, a 10 per cent discount for those who plead guilty after the first arraignment date but before the trial starts will be dropped to a 5 per cent discount.
“We have acted on the recommendations of the Martin Review, developing a system that is fairer, more in line with community standards and ensures the courts take into account a broad range of factors when imposing a sentence and determining the appropriate reduction,” Attorney-General Chapman said.
“Clearly, a 40 per cent reduction was seen as far too lenient, and this new regime should give the community greater faith in the sentences handed down in these serious matters.”
