Parole eligibility order, court may make
89 Parole eligibility order, court may make
A court sentencing an offender to a fixed term of imprisonment may make an order (a parole eligibility order) that the offender be eligible to be considered for parole in respect of that term by the Prisoners Review Board.
A parole eligibility order must not be made if the fixed term, or the aggregate of the fixed terms, imposed by the court is less than 6 months, except where the offender, at the date of the sentence, is serving or has yet to serve —
a parole term imposed previously; or
a fixed term or fixed terms imposed previously —
which, or the aggregate of which, is less than 6 months; and
which, with the term or terms imposed by the court, would result in an aggregate of 6 months or more.
A parole eligibility order must not be made in respect of a prescribed term.
A court may decide not to make a parole eligibility order in respect of a fixed term imposed on an offender if the court considers that the offender should not be eligible for parole because of at least one of the following 4 factors —
the offence is serious;
the offender has a significant criminal record;
the offender, when released from custody under a release order made previously, did not comply with the order;
any other reason the court considers relevant.
If a court decides that an offender is to be eligible for parole in respect of 2 or more of the fixed terms it imposes, it is to make a single parole eligibility order in respect of those terms.
If, in a case to which subsection (2)(b) applies, a court decides that an offender is to be eligible for parole, it is to make a single parole eligibility order in respect of the fixed term or fixed terms it imposes and the term or terms imposed previously.
If, in any other case —
a court decides that an offender is to be eligible for parole; and
at the date of the sentence the offender is serving or has yet to serve a fixed term or fixed terms imposed previously which, or the aggregate of which, is less than 12 months,
the court may make a single parole eligibility order in respect of a fixed term or fixed terms that it imposes and the term or terms imposed previously.
The effect of a parole eligibility order made in respect of 2 or more fixed terms is subject to section 94.
This section does not affect the operation of Part 3 Division 4 of the Sentence Administration Act 2003 in relation to the release on parole of a prisoner to whom that Division applies.
In subsection (4) —
release order means an order made (in this State or elsewhere in Australia) in respect of an offender who is subject to a sentence of imprisonment that releases the offender on conditions before the end of the sentence, and includes such an order made under a written law before the commencement of the Sentencing Legislation Amendment and Repeal Act 2003.
[Section 89 inserted: No. 50 of 2003 s. 18; amended: No. 41 of 2006 s. 76; No. 45 of 2016 s. 19; No. 45 of 2016 s. 75.]
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