Types of sanctions

Question 1

What are three types of sanctions?

Answer 1

1. Fines
2. Community Correction Order
3. Imprisonment

Question 2

Fines

Answer 2

A monetary penalty paid by the offender to the State of Victoria
- can be imposed with or without a sanction
- court can order a due date for payments and allow payments to be made in instalments over time

Question 3

What are the main purposes of a fine?

Answer 3

• Punishment
• Deterrence
• Denunciation

Question 4

Size of the fine is determined by considering:

Answer 4

• the nature of the offence
• the loss it caused others
• the offenders financial circumstances
• whether the offender made financial gain from their offending

Question 5

Do fines achieve their purposes?

Answer 5

• can act as a deterrent, punishment, denunciation
• unlikely to rehabilitate
• unreported fines may not act as a general deterrent

Question 6

Community Correction Order

Answer 6

Served in the community with several basic and optional conditions attached.
- can be imposed for any offence punishable by more than 5 penalty units, but not very serious offences (murder, manslaughter and rape)
- cannot exceed 5 years if made in the County Court or 2 years per offence in the Magistrate’s Court.

Question 7

What are the main purposes of a CCO?

Answer 7

• rehabilitation
• protectection
• deterrent

Question 8

Mandatory conditions of a CCO include:

Answer 8

• not re-offending
• reporting to the Community Corrections Officer
• not leaving Victoria without permissions

Question 9

Optional conditions of a CCO include:

Answer 9

• unpaid community work
• rehabilitation programs
• supervision
• non-association with certain people
• curfew
• monitoring

Question 10

Do CCO’s achieve their purposes?

Answer 10

• can enable offender to rehabilitate
• can act as a deterrent, punishment
• may not punish if inappropriate conditions imposed

Question 11

Imprisonment

Answer 11

• can lead to rehabilitation, but this is not always the case
• for some sentences, imprisonment is the only option (e.g. murder or rape)
• for other sentences, statutes define when imprisonment can be imposed as well as the maximum sentence

Question 12

What are the conditions of imprisonment parole?

Answer 12

This is early release from prison, it is not automatically granted

Question 13

What are the main purposes of imprisonment?

Answer 13

• protect the community
• punish the offender
• act as a general and specific deterrent
• denounce the offending

Question 14

Does imprisonment achieve its purposes?

Answer 14

• effective method of protection, general deterrence
• rehabilitation depends on the offender
• high rates of recidivism suggest limited rehabilitation and specific deterrence

Question 15

Concurrent and Cumulative sentences

Answer 15

• Concurrent means multiple sentences are served at the same time (e.g. 1 ½ years + another 2 years = 3 ½ years)
• Cumulative sentences are added together (e.g. 1 ½ years + another 2 years = 2 years)