Victims' involvement in sentencing

On 24 May 2017, the NSW Attorney General asked us to review victims' involvement in the sentencing process. 

Report 

We transmitted our Report: Victims' Involvement in Sentencing (PDF, 534.6 KB) to the Attorney General on 1 March 2018. It was released on 24 October 2018.

The NSW Government provided a response (PDF, 56.0 KB) in October 2018. 

Some of our recommendations were implemented by Crimes Legislation Amendment (Victims) Act 2018 (NSW) which commenced on 27 May 2019.

Other documents

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

• Submissions (responding to the Consultation Paper)
• Consultation paper (PDF, 711.6 KB) (published in September 2017)
• Preliminary submissions (responding to the terms of reference)

Terms of reference

We received the following terms of reference on 24 May 2017:

I ... request that the Council conduct a review of victims' involvement in the sentencing process under the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW) and consider:

1. The principles courts apply when receiving and addressing victim impact statements.
2. Who can make a victim impact statement.
3. Procedural issues with the making and reception in court of a victim impact statement, including the content of a victim impact statement, the evidential admissibility applied to a victim impact statement, and objections to the content of victim impact statements.
4. The level of support and assistance available to victims.

In undertaking this review, the Council should have regard to:

• the obligations arising under section 107 of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW)
• the effect of the current framework on victims
• developments in other jurisdictions both in Australia and overseas
• minimising victim distress in the sentencing process.