The Institute has lodged a submission regarding NSW high risk offender legislation, noting that such legislation raises a number of rule of law concerns.
The submission was lodged with the NSW Department of Justice, which was conducting a review of the Crimes (High Risk Offenders) Act 2006 (NSW).
When it was first passed in 2006, the Act established a system of post-sentence supervision and detention orders for serious sex offenders. In 2013, this system was extended to include serious violent offenders.
Other amendments were also made, including a requirement for a statutory review to be conducted after three years. That review is now being conducted.
The Institute’s submission noted that post-sentence regimes of any type raise important rule of law concerns. However, we also noted the ongoing bipartisan support for such a regime in NSW, accepting that it was likely to be a part of the legal landscape for some time.
Accordingly, we also made submissions concerning problems specific to the NSW regime, including the problems raised by ex parte applications for detention orders, the increased penalties for breaches of supervision orders, and the use to which victim statements could be put in hearings about supervision or detention orders.
For full details, read our submission here.
Further details concerning the statutory review can be found on the NSW Justice website. The deadline for submissions has now closed.
