Sentencing Trends & Issues No 33 — Successful Completion Rates for Supervised Sentencing Options

At any one time, the New South Wales Department of Corrective Services is responsible for supervising about twice as many offenders in the general community as there are inmates in prison. Although the Productivity Commission’s “Report on Government Services 2005″1 reports on the completion of community-based orders, there is little detailed research or disaggregated information on offenders who breach the terms of their undertakings with consequent revocation of their orders.

Courts in New South Wales often order supervision as part of a bond or other community-based sanction. It is therefore important that the courts have some general appreciation of the extent to which these orders are successfully completed. The Judicial Commission has worked jointly with the New South Wales Department of Corrective Services to analyse and present information about completion rates.