MONOGRAPH 40 volume 1

60 Transparent and consistent sentencing in the Land and Environment Court of NSW: orders for costs as an aspect of punishment Judicial Commission of NSW A far less normal distribution is noted in the fines ordered for “special liability” offenders, with a “plateau” corresponding to the dual modes of $20,000 and $30,000 and distinct minor “peaks” for the fine values of $5,000, $100,000 and $750,000. The distribution of fine amounts for “ordinary Joe” individual offenders is skewed towards the lower values. Distinct bumps are, however, noted within this distribution corresponding to grouped fine amounts of $50,000 and $200,000. 370 The relative difference between the fine amounts incurred by each class of environmental offender may be better appreciated by examining Figure 7 . In this the stacked column chart, it is easier to see there is a relatively higher proportion of fines in the $5,000 to $20,000 range for “ordinary Joe” offenders than for the other classes of offenders — almost three-quarters (73%) of fines incurred by “ordinary Joe” individual offenders were in that range. While the fine amounts for small business owners show a similar pattern to that of individual offenders, there is also a relatively higher proportion of fines for amounts greater than $30,000. The fine amounts for “special liability” offenders, on the other hand, are more commonly within the range of $20,000 to $50,000. These fine amounts represent almost 60% of all fines imposed on this class of offender. Corporations show an interesting mix of lower and higher fine amounts. Around 40% of fines for corporations were for amounts of $50,000 or more. Corporations were the only class of offender that received fines of $1 million or higher. 371 370 Two individuals, who were neither company directors nor small business owners, received fines of between $100,000 and $200,000 in the study period. In Cowra Shire Council v Fuller [2015] NSWLEC 13, the offender planned and deliberately demolished a rural homestead of heritage significance to pre-empt the council listing the building as a heritage item. The offender was fined $175,000. In the case of Garrett v Williams [2006] NSWLEC 785, the offender destroyed identified endangered trees and vegetation to remove an impediment to subdividing and developing his rural property. The offender was fined $130,000. 371 The reasons for this become more apparent when the objective and subjective characteristics of corporate offenders are taken into consideration in the analysis. This may be the subject of a future publication by the Judicial Commission. 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 $1 million+ $750,000 $500,00 $200,000 $100,000 $75,000 $50,000 $30,000 $20,000 $10,000 $5,000 $3,000 $2,000 $1,000 Per cent Corporation Special liability offender Small business owner “Ordinary Joe” individual Class of offender Figure 7: Percentage distribution of fine amounts for environmental planning and protection offences in the LEC by Class of Offender — 2000 to 2015 (principal offence only)