Section 33BB of the Criminal Law (Sentencing) Act 1988 (SA) requires a two-stage approach: first, whether the defendant is a suitable person to serve the sentence on home detention; and second, whether the discretion should be exercised to order home detention. A sentencing judge who conflates these inquiries, or who treats the home detention question as governed by the same criteria as Part 5 suspension without separate consideration, commits an error of approach. A defendant who misleads the court or the Department for Correctional Services about personal circumstances relevant to home detention is unlikely to be found a suitable person for home detention. Home detention sits in the sentencing hierarchy between a suspended sentence and a custodial sentence, and greater relative weight may be given to personal circumstances at the home detention stage than at the head sentence or suspension stages.
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