Sentencing of Federal Offenders
Published on 20 June 2006.
June 2006: Fact sheet
What offences are prosecuted under federal laws?
Two important categories of offences prosecuted under federal laws are fraud (including social security fraud and tax fraud) and illegal drug importation. Corporations, fisheries and migration offences (such as people smuggling), along with terrorism offences, sex slavery and war crimes, are also dealt with under federal laws.
Are there regional differences in federal offending?
Yes. In December 2004, two-thirds of federal prisoners serving sentences for drug offences (n=465/695) were in NSW. All fisheries-related offenders were in Queensland (n=24) or Western Australia (n=10). Migration offenders were mainly in Western Australia (n=6) and the Northern Territory (n=3). Over 40% of prisoners convicted of social security offences (n=13/31) were in Queensland. [ALRC 103, p 774]
How are federal offences dealt with?
Most prosecutions of federal offences are brought by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP) in state and territory courts. Other regulatory agencies, such as the Australian Taxation Office, also undertake prosecutions of less serious offences. A very high proportion of federal offences are dealt with summarily. Of 9,368 charges dealt with by the CDPP in 2003–04, 91% were summary offences and 9% were indictable offences. [ALRC 103, p 757]
What are the sentencing outcomes for federal offenders?
There is a range of outcomes for federal offenders including bonds, fines, community service orders and prison sentences. In fraud cases, bonds (50%) were the most common outcome, followed by imprisonment (34%), community service orders (18%) and fines (16%). In drug cases, prison sentences (81%) were the most common outcome, followed by bonds (18%) and fines (11%). [ALRC 103, p 822]
How many federal prisoners are there?
Federal prisoners make up a small proportion (2.9%) of the total prison population in Australia . In September 2004, there were 682 federal prisoners, compared with 21,959 prisoners held on state and territory offences. Among federal prisoners, 87% were males and 13% were females. Most federal prisoners are held in NSW (53%), followed by Western Australia (15%), Queensland (14%) and Victoria (10%). [ALRC 103, p 764–765]
Do outcomes differ for federal offenders between states and territories?
Yes. An analysis of 24,045 fraud cases and 1,115 drug importation cases over five years from 2000–2004 shows significant differences in the type of outcome and the severity of the outcome for similar crimes prosecuted in different jurisdictions.
For example, fraud offences were much more likely to lead to a prison term in the Northern Territory (76% of NT fraud cases), South Australia (72%) and Tasmania (51%), compared with the national average (34%) [ALRC 103, p 858]. On the other hand, as Figure 1 shows, where a prison sentence was imposed (n=8,077), the head sentence tended to be much shorter than the national average in Tasmania and the Northern Territory, but longer than the national average in Queensland and Western Australia [derived from ALRC 103, p 860].
Figure 1
In drug cases, head sentences were commonly for five years or more, reflecting the seriousness of the criminal conduct. As shown in Figure 2, the majority of drug cases resulted in these relatively long sentences in NSW (85% of NSW drug cases), Western Australia (73%), the Northern Territory (67%) and Queensland (59%). However, in three states a relatively higher proportion of prison sentences were for less than two years, compared with the national average. These states were Queensland (31% of Qld drug cases), Victoria (21%) and South Australia (20%) [derived from ALRC 103, p 863].
Figure 2
