s 1Short title
This Act may be cited as the Sentence Administration Act 2003.
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Bill homepageThis Act may be cited as the Sentence Administration Act 2003.
Subject to subsection (3) and to section 2(3) of the Sentencing Legislation Amendment and Repeal Act 2003 this Act comes into operation on a day fixed by proclamation.
Different days may be fixed under subsection (1) for different provisions.
No part of this Act shall be proclaimed to come into operation within 6 months of Part 5 of the Sentencing Legislation Amendment and Repeal Act 2003 coming into operation.
This Act is to be read with the Sentencing Act 1995.
If not defined in this Act words and expressions in this Act have the same definitions as in the Sentencing Act 1995 and in particular, in Part 13 of that Act.
In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears —
approved electronic monitoring device means —
an electronic monitoring device that has been approved by the CEO; and
any equipment, wires or other items associated with a device under paragraph (a);
Board means the Prisoners Review Board;
category 1 prisoner means —
a prisoner who —
has been charged with, or convicted of, a terrorism offence; or
is subject to an interim control order or a confirmed control order;
or
a prisoner who has been subject to an interim control order or a confirmed control order at any time during —
the period of the prisoner’s sentence (the current sentence); or
the period of 10 years ending on the day on which the prisoner’s current sentence begins or is taken to have begun;
or
a prisoner for whom an interim control order is being sought under the Commonwealth Criminal Code section 104.3;
category 2 prisoner means a prisoner who has been charged with, or convicted of, an offence against the Commonwealth Criminal Code section 80.2C(1);
CEO means the chief executive officer of the Public Sector agency principally assisting the Minister administering Part 8 in its administration;
chairperson means the person appointed under section 103(1)(a);
Commissioner of Police report means a written report referred to in section 66H(1) or (4);
Commonwealth Criminal Code means the Criminal Code set out in the Schedule to the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Commonwealth);
community has a meaning affected by subsection (4);
community corrections activities are activities approved as such under section 85;
community corrections centre means a place declared to be a community corrections centre under section 84;
community corrections officer means a person appointed as a community corrections officer under section 98 and includes an honorary CCO;
community order means a community based order or an intensive supervision order imposed under the Sentencing Act 1995;
conditional suspended imprisonment means conditional suspended imprisonment imposed under Part 12 Division 1 of the Sentencing Act 1995;
confirmed control order has the meaning given in the Commonwealth Criminal Code section 100.1(1);
departmental staff means the people appointed or engaged under section 98 and the people authorised to work as unpaid volunteers under section 99;
designated family relationship means a relationship between 2 persons —
who are, or were, married to each other; or
who are, or were, in a de facto relationship with each other; or
who have, or had, an intimate personal relationship with each other; or
one of whom is a child who —
ordinarily resides, or resided, with the other person; or
regularly resides or stays, or resided or stayed, with the other person;
or
one of whom is, or was, a child of whom the other person is a guardian;
early release order means —
a parole order; or
a re‑entry release order;
family violence offence (category A) means an offence where the offender and the victim are in a designated family relationship with each other at the time of the commission of the offence and the offence is an offence against The Criminal Code section 221BD, 279, 280, 281, 283, 292, 293, 294, 297, 298, 300, 301, 304, 313, 317, 317A, 323, 324, 325, 326, 328, 332, 333, 338A, 338B, 338C, 338E or 444;
family violence offence (category B) means an offence where the offender and the victim are in a designated family relationship with each other at the time of the commission of the offence and the offence is —
an offence against the Restraining Orders Act 1997 section 61(1) or (1A); or
an offence against The Criminal Code section 221BD, 279, 280, 281, 283, 292, 293, 294, 297, 298, 300, 301, 304, 313, 317, 317A, 323, 324, 325, 326, 328, 332, 333, 338A, 338B, 338C, 338E or 444;
family violence restraining order has the meaning given in the Restraining Orders Act 1997 section 3(1);
Governor’s pleasure detainee means —
a person in, or regarded as being in, strict or safe custody by virtue of an order made under the repealed section 282 of The Criminal Code; or
a person subject to a sentence of detention imposed under section 279(5)(b) of The Criminal Code; or
a person subject to a direction or sentence under repealed section 661 or 662 of The Criminal Code;
honorary CCO means a person appointed as a community corrections officer under section 98(1)(b);
interim control order has the meaning given in the Commonwealth Criminal Code section 100.1(1);
parole order means an order made under Part 3 that a prisoner be released on parole and includes a parole order made for the purposes of section 72 or 73;
parole order (unsupervised) means a parole order that specifies that it is unsupervised;
post‑sentence supervision order means a post‑sentence supervision order made under Part 5A;
prisoner means —
a person sentenced to a fixed term, whether a parole term or not; or
a person sentenced to life imprisonment; or
a person sentenced to indefinite imprisonment; or
a Governor’s pleasure detainee;
prisoner with links to terrorism means —
a category 1 prisoner; or
a category 2 prisoner who is subject to a Commissioner of Police report; or
a prisoner who —
is subject to a Commissioner of Police report; and
the Board as constituted by the chairperson alone is satisfied, having regard to the report, has made statements or carried out activities that support, or advocate support for, terrorist acts;
re‑entry release order means a re‑entry release order made under Part 4 and includes a re‑entry release order made for the purposes of section 72;
release means release from custody;
release considerations relating to a prisoner, has the meaning given to that term by section 5A;
re‑socialisation programme means a programme of a prescribed kind that can be provided under the Prisons Act 1981 to address the following factors insofar as they are relevant to equipping a particular prisoner for re‑entry into the general community —
education;
employment;
drug and alcohol use;
mental and physical health;
attitudes and social control;
institutionalisation and life skills;
housing;
financial support and debt;
family and community networks;
any other prescribed factor;
Schedule 3 prisoner means a person described in Schedule 3 column 2;
sentence includes order;
serial family violence offender means a person who is a serial family violence offender under the Sentencing Act 1995 section 124E;
serious offence means an offence of the kind set out in Schedule 2, other than such of those offences as have been prescribed by the regulations as not to be a serious offence;
supervised offender has the meaning given in section 74E(1);
terrorism offence means —
an offence against the Commonwealth Criminal Code Division 72 Subdivision A; or
an offence against the Commonwealth Criminal Code Division 80 Subdivision B; or
an offence against the Commonwealth Criminal Code Part 5.3, other than an offence against section 104.22, 104.27, 104.27A, 105.41 or 105.45; or
an offence against the Commonwealth Criminal Code Part 5.5; or
an offence against the following provisions of the Charter of the United Nations Act 1945 (Commonwealth) —
Part 4;
Part 5, to the extent that it relates to the Charter of the United Nations (Sanctions—Al‑Qaida) Regulations 2008 (Commonwealth);
or
an offence against the Crimes (Foreign Incursions and Recruitment) Act 1978 (Commonwealth) (repealed); or
an offence against the Crimes (Internationally Protected Persons) Act 1976 (Commonwealth) section 8; or
an offence under a written law or a law of the Commonwealth, another State, a Territory or another country, that substantially corresponds to an offence referred to in paragraph (a), (b), (c), (d), (e) or (g); or
an offence of attempting, inciting or conspiring to commit an offence referred to in paragraph (a), (b), (c), (d), (e), (f), (g) or (h);
terrorist act has the meaning given in the Terrorism (Commonwealth Powers) Act 2002 section 3;
terrorist intelligence information means information relating to a prohibited act or suspected prohibited act, the disclosure of which could reasonably be expected to —
prejudice national security; or
endanger a person’s life or physical safety; or
threaten significant damage to infrastructure or property; or
prejudice a criminal investigation; or
reveal intelligence gathering methodologies, investigative techniques or technologies or covert practices; or
enable the discovery of the existence or identity of a confidential source of information relevant to law enforcement;
victim of an offender or prisoner has the meaning given in section 5D;
victim’s submission has the meaning given to that term by section 5C(1);
work and development order means a work and development order made under Part 4 of the Fines, Penalties and Infringement Notices Enforcement Act 1994.
For the purposes of the definition of designated family relationship in subsection (2), an intimate personal relationship exists between 2 persons (including persons of the same sex) if —
the persons are engaged to be married to each other, including a betrothal under cultural or religious tradition; or
the persons date each other, or have a romantic involvement with each other, whether or not a sexual relationship is involved.
In deciding whether an intimate personal relationship exists under subsection (2A)(b), the following may be taken into account —
the circumstances of the relationship, including, for example, the level of trust and commitment;
the length of time the relationship has existed;
the frequency of contact between the persons;
the level of intimacy between the persons.
For the purposes of the definition of terrorist intelligence information, a prohibited act is —
a terrorism offence; or
an offence against the Commonwealth Criminal Code section 80.2C(1); or
a terrorist act (whether in this State or elsewhere).
In this Act these abbreviations are used —
CCO for community corrections officer;
CSI for conditional suspended imprisonment;
PSSO for post‑sentence supervision order;
RRO for re‑entry release order;
WDO for work and development order.
A reference in this Act to the community includes any community and is not limited to the community of Western Australia or Australia.
[Section 4 amended: No. 27 of 2004 s. 10; No. 41 of 2006 s. 4; No. 65 of 2006 s. 37; No. 29 of 2008 s. 39(2); No. 45 of 2016 s. 4 and 22; No. 49 of 2016 s. 107; No. 13 of 2020 s. 15; No. 29 of 2020 s. 104; No. 30 of 2020 s. 33; No. 14 of 2022 s. 4; No. 28 of 2024 s. 50.]
[Section 4. Modifications to be applied in order to give effect to Cross-border Justice Act 2008: section altered 1 Nov 2009. See endnote 1M.]
The Courts and Tribunals (Electronic Processes Facilitation) Act 2013 Part 2 applies to this Act.
[Section 4A inserted: No. 34 of 2020 s. 61.]
In this Part words and expressions have the same definitions, and calculations are to be made in the same way, as in Part 13 of the Sentencing Act 1995.
In this Act a reference to the release considerations relating to a prisoner is a reference to these considerations —
the degree of risk (having regard to any likelihood of the prisoner committing an offence when subject to an early release order and the likely nature and seriousness of any such offence) that the release of the prisoner would appear to present to the personal safety of people in the community or of any individual in the community;
the circumstances of the commission of, and the seriousness of, an offence for which the prisoner is in custody;
any remarks by a court that has sentenced the prisoner to imprisonment that are relevant to any of the matters mentioned in paragraph (a) or (b);
issues for any victim of the prisoner if the prisoner is released, including any matter raised in a victim’s submission;
the behaviour of the prisoner when in custody insofar as it may be relevant to determining how the prisoner is likely to behave if released;
whether the prisoner has participated in programmes available to the prisoner when in custody, and if not the reasons for not doing so;
the prisoner’s performance when participating in a programme mentioned in paragraph (f);
the behaviour of the prisoner when subject to any release order made previously;
the likelihood of the prisoner committing an offence when subject to an early release order;
the likelihood of the prisoner complying with the standard obligations and any additional requirements of any early release order;
any other consideration that is or may be relevant to whether the prisoner should be released.
[Section 5A inserted: No. 41 of 2006 s. 6; amended: No. 49 of 2016 s. 108.]
The Board or any other person performing functions under this Act must regard the safety of the community as the paramount consideration.
[Section 5B inserted: No. 41 of 2006 s. 6.]
A victim’s submission is a written submission by a victim of an offender who is in custody that does either or both of the following —
states the victim’s opinion of the effect the release of the prisoner would have on the victim;
makes suggestions about the conditions that should apply to the prisoner if released.
If a victim is personally incapable of making a victim’s submission due to age, disability or infirmity, a person may make a victim’s submission on the victim’s behalf.
The Board and the CEO are to establish procedures for the making of victims’ submissions and their receipt by or transmission to the Board.
In performing its functions, the Board is to have regard to any victim’s submission received by or transmitted to it in accordance with the procedures and is to give the submission such weight as it sees fit.
The Board must not —
give a victim’s submission, or a copy of a victim’s submission, to the prisoner or to any person acting for or on behalf of, or representing, the prisoner; or
allow the prisoner or any person acting for or on behalf of, or representing, the prisoner to view a victim’s submission.
[Section 5C inserted: No. 41 of 2006 s. 6; amended: No. 49 of 2016 s. 109.]
In this Act —
victim of an offender or prisoner means —
a person who has suffered injury, loss or damage as a direct result of an offence committed by the offender or prisoner, whether or not that injury, loss or damage was reasonably foreseeable by the offender or prisoner; or
where an offence committed by the offender or prisoner resulted in a death, any member of the immediate family of the deceased; or
a person protected by a family violence restraining order under the Restraining Orders Act 1997 to which the offender or prisoner is a respondent; or
a person who can demonstrate, to the satisfaction of the CEO that —
the person is the victim of a violent personal offence previously committed by the offender or prisoner; and
the violent personal offence occurred in the context of a family relationship, as defined in the Restraining Orders Act 1997 section 4, with the offender or prisoner.
violent personal offence means —
an offence specified in the Restraining Orders Act 1997 section 63(4AA)(a); or
a violent personal offence as defined in the Restraining Orders Act 1997 section 63A(1A).
For the purposes of subsection (1) in the definition of victim paragraph (c) or (d), it is irrelevant that the family violence restraining order or the previous violent personal offence, as the case requires, is unrelated to the offence referred to in paragraph (a) or (b) of that definition.
[Section 5D inserted: No. 49 of 2016 s. 110.]
Unless this section provides otherwise or an order is made under section 87(1)(d) or 88(3) of the Sentencing Act 1995, a term, other than indefinite imprisonment, begins on the day it is imposed, or if the prisoner is not then in custody, on the day he or she is arrested under a warrant issued in respect of the sentence.
If a term is cumulative on one or more other terms then that term begins on the earliest date on which the prisoner could be released in relation to the last to be served of those other terms, whether or not the release would otherwise be under —
a parole order; or
a recognizance release order, or a parole order, made under the Crimes Act 1914 of the Commonwealth.
[Section 6 amended: No. 14 of 2022 s. 5.]
In this section —
fixed term includes —
a period of imprisonment ordered under section 58, 59 or 119A of the Sentencing Act 1995; and
a period of imprisonment specified in a warrant of commitment issued under the Fines, Penalties and Infringement Notices Enforcement Act 1994;
non‑parole period, in relation to a parole term, means the period that under section 93(1) of the Sentencing Act 1995 the prisoner has to serve before he or she is eligible to be released on parole.
A prisoner who has to serve 2 or more fixed terms is to serve those terms in this order —
firstly, those that are not parole terms are to be served according to whether they are concurrent, partly concurrent or cumulative with one another;
secondly, subject to sections 94 and 95A of the Sentencing Act 1995 and subsection (3), the non‑parole periods of those that are parole terms are to be served according to whether those parole terms are concurrent, partly concurrent or cumulative with one another;
thirdly, subject to sections 94 and 95A of the Sentencing Act 1995 and subsection (3), unless and until released on parole, the balance of any parole terms after the end of any non‑parole periods are to be served —
cumulatively if the terms are cumulative;
concurrently if the terms are concurrent or partly concurrent.
If after the commencement of Part 2 Division 4 of the Sentencing Legislation Amendment and Repeal Act 2003 1 a prisoner who is serving, or has yet to serve, a parole term imposed before the commencement of that Division is sentenced to serve another parole term, then —
the non‑parole periods of the terms are to be served according to whether the parole terms are concurrent, partly concurrent or cumulative with one another; and
the balance of the parole terms after the end of any non‑parole periods are to be served concurrently irrespective of whether the parole terms are concurrent, partly concurrent or cumulative with one another.
If while serving a fixed term a prisoner is sentenced to serve another fixed term, other than a fixed term ordered to be served partly concurrently with another term, service of the former is suspended if necessary so that the terms can then be served in the order required by subsection (2).
[Section 7 amended: No. 41 of 2006 s. 7; No. 3 of 2008 s. 22; No. 6 of 2014 s. 8.]
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