Firearms, knives and other weapons offences

On 4 November 2022, the Attorney General asked us to review sentencing for firearms, knives and other weapons offences.

Report

We transmitted our Report: Firearms, knives and other weapons offences (PDF, 1.3 MB) to the Attorney General on 29 May 2024. It was released on 3 September 2024.

Other documents

The following documents were part of the consultation process for our Report:

• Submissions in response to the Issues Paper and Consultation Paper
• Issues Paper (PDF, 2.6 MB) published in October 2023
• Consultation Paper (PDF, 1.4 MB) published in September 2023
• Preliminary submissions in response to the terms of reference

Terms of reference

We received the following terms of reference on 4 November 2022:

The Sentencing Council is asked to conduct a review of sentencing for firearms, knives and other weapons offences (focusing on but not limited to offences involving the use or carrying of firearms, knives and other weapons), and make any recommendations for reform that it considers appropriate.

In undertaking this review, the Sentencing Council should:

1. provide sentencing statistics for convictions and penalty notices (where relevant) over a five-year period;

2. provide information on the characteristics of offenders, sentence type and length;

3. provide background information, including:

a. the key sentencing principles and reasoning employed by sentencing judges;

b. the mitigating subjective features of offenders; and

c. any other significant factors considered in sentencing decisions that explain how courts come to their final decision on sentence (which may be done using case-studies or collation of predominate themes across cases);

4. consider whether the standard non parole periods where identified remain appropriate;

5. consider whether offences for which penalty notices are available remain appropriate;

6. consider whether the maximum penalties for the offences are appropriate with reference to other jurisdictions;

7. consider whether any existing summary offences should be made indictable offences;

8. consider any other matter the Council considers relevant.