Community Protection (Offender Reporting) Act 2005

Community Protection (Offender Reporting) Act 2005

This Act may be cited as the Community Protection (Offender Reporting) Act 2005.

This Act commences on a day to be proclaimed.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires –

approved place means a place approved by the Registrar under section 20;

authorised person means a police officer of a class prescribed by the regulations;

child means a person who is under 18 years of age;

Class 1 offence has the meaning given to that term in section 13;

Class 2 offence has the meaning given to that term in section 14;

Class 3 offence has the meaning given to that term in section 15;

Commissioner means the person holding or acting in the office of Commissioner of Police under the Police Service Act 2003;

community order means – a community service order or probation order made under the Sentencing Act 1997; or a community service order or probation order made under the Youth Justice Act 1997;

community protection order has the meaning given to that term in section 3A;

corresponding Act means a law of a foreign jurisdiction that – provides for people who have committed specified offences to report in that jurisdiction information about themselves and to keep that information current for a specified period; and is prescribed by the regulations to be a corresponding Act for the purposes of this Act;

corresponding offender reporting order means an order made under a corresponding Act that falls within a class of orders that are prescribed by the regulations to be corresponding offender reporting orders for the purposes of this Act;

corresponding registrar means the person whose functions under a corresponding Act most closely correspond to the functions of the Registrar under this Act;

corresponding reportable offence means an offence that is a reportable offence for the purposes of a corresponding Act but is not a reportable offence as referred to in section 12(a), (b) or (c);

corresponding reportable offender has the meaning given to that term in section 11;

court includes a court (however described) of a foreign jurisdiction;

detainee means a person who is subject to a detention order under section 47 of the Youth Justice Act 1997;

existing controlled offender means a person who, as a result of having been sentenced for a reportable offence, is subject to a community order or parole or is under the supervision of a supervising authority immediately before the commencement of this Act and includes a person who was under similar supervision under the laws of a foreign jurisdiction and a person who was in government custody in respect of a reportable offence at that time;

foreign jurisdiction means a jurisdiction other than Tasmania (including jurisdictions outside Australia);

foreign witness-protection law means a law of a foreign jurisdiction that provides for the protection of witnesses;

government custody means – custody as a prisoner or detainee or as a mentally impaired defendant where the order made under the Criminal Justice (Mental Impairment) Act 1999 requires the person to be detained in a secure mental health unit (or, in the case of an order made under Part 4 of that Act before 20 February 2006, detained in a special facility within the meaning of that Act as originally enacted) or to be kept in government custody; or custody under a law of a foreign jurisdiction in the nature of custody referred to in paragraph (a);

non-intimate forensic procedure means non-intimate forensic procedure as defined in the Forensic Procedures Act 2000;

offender reporting order means an order made under section 6, 7 or 9 and includes a corresponding offender reporting order;

parole means parole under an order made under the Corrections Act 1997 and includes parole under an equivalent order made under the laws of a foreign jurisdiction;

personal details means the information listed in section 17(1);

personal information means information about an individual whose identity is apparent or can reasonably be ascertained from the information;

prisoner has the meaning given to that term in the Corrections Act 1997;

public authority means – a State Service Agency; or a council; or any other body, whether incorporated or not, that is established or continued for a public purpose under a written law and that, under the authority of a written law, performs a statutory function on behalf of the State;

Register means the Community Protection Offender Register established under section 43;

Registrar means a police officer appointed to that position under section 42;

reportable contact, in relation to a reportable offender's contact with a child, means the contact listed in section 17(4);

reportable offence has the meaning given to that term in section 12;

reportable offender has the meaning given to that term in section 5;

reporting obligations, in relation to a reportable offender, means the obligations imposed on him or her by Part 3;

reporting period means the period, as determined under Division 5 of Part 3, during which a reportable offender must comply with his or her reporting obligations;

sentence includes – an exercise of power under section 7 of the Sentencing Act 1997; and an exercise of power under section 47 of the Youth Justice Act 1997; and an order made under the Criminal Justice (Mental Impairment) Act 1999; and anything prescribed by the regulations to be a sentence for the purposes of this definition – and any sentence or equivalent exercise of power or order under the laws of a foreign jurisdiction;

supervising authority, in relation to a class of reportable offenders, means the authority prescribed by the regulations as the supervising authority of that class of reportable offenders;

young reportable offender means a reportable offender who is a child.

For the purposes of this Act, a community protection order includes each of the following orders:

a community protection order made, and in force, under section 10A;

an interim community protection order made, and in force, under section 10B;

an order made and in force in a State or Territory, or in New Zealand, that corresponds, or substantially corresponds, with an order made under section 10A or 10B.

For the purposes of this Act, offences arise from the same incident only if they are committed within a single period of 24 hours and against the same person.

A reference in this Act to doing a thing "in person" is a reference to doing the thing by personal attendance at a place, and it is not sufficient to attend the place by telephone or by any other electronic means.

A reportable offender is a person – whom a court, on or after the commencement of this Act, sentences for a reportable offence; and in respect of whom the court makes an order under section 6.

A person is also a reportable offender if the person was sentenced for a reportable offence before the commencement of this Act and is an existing controlled offender in respect of that offence and is made subject to an order under section 9.

A person is also a reportable offender if the person is subject to an order under section 7.

A person who is a corresponding reportable offender is also a reportable offender.

A person ceases to be a reportable offender if – the finding of guilt in respect of the only offence that makes the person a reportable offender for the purposes of this Act is quashed or set aside by a court; or the person is a reportable offender only because he or she is subject to an offender reporting order and that order is quashed on appeal.

For the purposes of this section, it is irrelevant whether or not a person may lodge, or has lodged, an appeal in respect of a finding of guilt, sentence or offender reporting order.

The court is to make an order directing that – the Registrar cause the name of a person whom the court sentences for a reportable offence to be placed on the Register; and the person comply with the reporting obligations under this Act – unless the court is satisfied that the person does not pose a risk of committing a reportable offence in the future.

The court is to make the order at the time the person is sentenced for the reportable offence.

For the purposes of subsection (1), it is not necessary that the court be able to identify a risk of offending against a particular person or particular persons or a particular class of persons.

If – a court sentences a person for an offence that is not a Class 1 offence, Class 2 offence or Class 3 offence; and apart from this section, that offence would not result in the person becoming a reportable offender – the court may make an order directing that – the Registrar cause the name of the person to be placed on the Register; and the person comply with the reporting obligations under this Act – if the court is satisfied that the person poses a risk of committing a reportable offence in the future.

For the purposes of subsection (1), it is not necessary that the court be able to identify a risk of offending against a particular person or particular persons or a particular class of persons.

The court must make the order at the time the person is sentenced for the offence.

An application for the imposition of an order under subsection (1) may be made by the prosecution, but an application is not necessary for the court to make the order.

For the purposes of Division 5 of Part 3, a person subject to an order made under this section in respect of an offence that is not a reportable offence is taken to have been sentenced for a Class 2 offence when the order was made.

If –

a person has been sentenced before the commencement of this Act for a Class 1 offence, a Class 2 offence or a Class 3 offence; and the person is not and has not been a reportable offender in respect of that offence –

the Commissioner may apply to a magistrate for an order that the person's name be placed on the Register and that the person comply with the reporting obligations under this Act.

In relation to an application under section 8, the magistrate may make an order that a person comply with the reporting obligations under this Act if the magistrate is satisfied that the person poses a risk of committing a reportable offence in the future.

For the purposes of subsection (1), it is not necessary that the magistrate be able to identify a risk of offending against a particular person or particular persons or a particular class of persons.

For the purposes of Division 5 of Part 3, a person subject to an order made under this section is taken to have been sentenced for a Class 2 offence.

In deciding whether to make an order under section 6 or 7 in relation to an offence, the court may take into account the following:any evidence given during proceedings for the offence; any document or record (including an electronic document or record) served on the offender by the prosecution; any statement tendered or deposition made, or exhibit tendered, at any proceedings in relation to the offence; any evidence given by a victim or the offender in relation to the making of the order; any pre-sentence report given to the court; any victim impact statement given to the court; any other matter the court considers relevant.

In deciding whether to make an order under section 9, the magistrate may take into account the following:any evidence given during proceedings in relation to the offence referred to in section 8(a); any document or record (including an electronic document or record) served on the offender by the prosecution; any statement tendered or deposition made, or exhibit tendered, at any proceedings in relation to the offence referred to in section 8(a); any evidence given by a victim or the offender in relation to the making of the order; any pre-sentence report given to the court that sentenced the offender for the offence referred to in section 8(a); any victim impact statement given to the court that sentenced the offender for the offence referred to in section 8(a); any other matter that the magistrate considers relevant.