Where appellant had undergone gender transition since time of offending
Quick Take
1The determination of whether an offender poses an 'unacceptable risk' under s 14(1)(a) of the Serious Offenders Act 2018 is an evaluative decision admitting of a single correct legal answer, not a discretionary one; accordingly, the correctness standard of appellate review applies, and [name withheld]'s 'plainly wrong' qualification is not followed.
2Actuarial and structured professional judgment tools developed for male sex offenders (Static-99R and RSVP-V2) may be used as a starting point in assessing risk for transgender women, provided care is taken to account for the limitations of the empirical data and the individual's specific circumstances including stage of gender transition and hormone levels.
3An expert risk assessment premised on the offender's current supervised and supported living conditions does not address the statutory hypothesis required by s 14(1)(a) — that the offender is in the community without a supervision order — and a court is entitled to decline to accept such an assessment on that basis.
