Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999

Discount where offer not accepted In determining the sentence for an offence, the court is to apply a sentencing discount in accordance with this section if—

the offender made an offer recorded in a negotiations document to plead guilty to an offence, and

that offence (the different offence) was not the offence the subject of the proceedings when the offer was made, and

the offer was not accepted by the prosecutor, and

the offer was not subsequently withdrawn, and

the offender was found guilty of the different offence or an offence that is reasonably equivalent to the different offence.

the facts of the offence are capable of constituting the different offence, and

the maximum penalty for the offence is the same or less than the different offence.

Discount where offer later accepted In determining the sentence for an offence, the court is to apply a sentencing discount for the utilitarian value of a guilty plea in accordance with this section if—

the offender made an offer recorded in a negotiations document to plead guilty to an offence, and

that offence (the different offence) was not the offence the subject of the proceedings when the offer was made, and

the offer was refused but accepted by the prosecutor after the offender was committed for trial, and

the offender pleaded guilty to the different offence at the first available opportunity able to be obtained by the offender.

Discount variation—offer to plead guilty to different offence The discount to be applied by the court is as follows—

a reduction of 25% in any sentence that would otherwise have been imposed, if the offer was made—

before the offender was committed for trial, or

for an offender found fit to be tried after being committed for trial and whose matter was not remitted to a Magistrate for continued committal proceedings—as soon as practicable after the offender was found fit to be tried,

a reduction of 10% in any sentence that would otherwise have been imposed, if the offer was made after the offender was committed for trial and at least 14 days before the first day of the trial of the offender,

a reduction of 5% in any sentence that would otherwise have been imposed, if the offer was made less than 14 days before or on or after the first day of the trial of the offender.

In determining, for the purposes of subsection (3)(a)(ii), whether the offer was made by the offender as soon as practicable after the offender was found fit to be tried, the court must take into account whether the offender had a reasonable opportunity to obtain legal advice and instruct a legal representative.