Judgment and punishment - Drug and Alcohol Sentence List
no discretion to deviate from statutory regime of eligibility
Quick Take
1Under s 12A of the Crimes (Sentencing) Act 2005 (ACT), an offender who has pleaded guilty to a serious violence offence (including intentionally inflicting grievous bodily harm) is ineligible for a Drug and Alcohol Treatment Order; there is no discretion to deviate from this statutory exclusion.
2Where an offender faces both eligible and ineligible offences arising from the same events, the ineligible offence cannot be 'hived off' and sentenced separately so as to permit a DATO on the remaining eligible charges; such an approach would defeat the plain and unambiguous language of s 12A.
3The power under s 65(4) of the Crimes (Sentencing) Act 2005 (ACT) to decline to set a non-parole period cannot be deployed solely to engineer DATO eligibility where the statutory criteria are not met.
