Summary

8.1        Evidence suggests that mandatory sentencing increases incarceration, is costly and is not effective as a crime deterrent. Mandatory sentencing may also disproportionately affect particular groups within society, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples—especially those found guilty of property crime.

8.2        The ALRC recommends that Commonwealth, state and territory governments should repeal sentencing provisions which impose mandatory or presumptive terms of imprisonment upon conviction of an offender, and that have a disproportionate impact on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. This chapter does not provide an exhaustive list of such provisions because complete data is not available. Instead, this chapter highlights those mandatory sentences attached to offences that have been identified by stakeholders as having a disproportionate impact on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and suggests that states and territories do further work to identify and repeal mandatory sentence provisions that in practice have a disproportionate impact on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.