Research Monograph 6 — Sentencing drug offenders

Sentencing drug offenders

One of the most striking features of the sentencing of drug offenders is its complexity. There are so many categories of drug offences, starting with the jurisdictional problem of whether the offence is prosecuted under State or federal law, through to considerations of factors which apply almost uniquely to the sentencing of this offence (such as the scale of the offence, which often bears on the nature of the charge; the statutory penalties that apply to such charges; the type of drug involved; the quantity and or purity of drug; and the role of the offender) that the sentencing of drug offenders presents as one of the most difficult or complex tasks faced by the sentencing judge. 

The present analysis therefore, seeks to provide information upon the patterns of drug sentences reflected in the decisions of higher courts of New South Wales between the date of the commencement of the Sentencing Act (25 September 1989) and 31 December 1991. 

In all, over 1,000 drug sentencing records are analysed. About nine out of ten of these relate to State offences, the balance are Commonwealth offences. 

The analysis considers State and Commonwealth sentences separately, because the offences are defined differently and carry different maximum penalties.

Paperback, 35 pp, November 1992, ISBN 0 7310 2055 2