Offenders sentenced to life imprisonment become eligible to be considered for release on parole after 10 years unless the court has imposed a longer minimum nonparole period.
Offenders sentenced to preventive detention become eligible to be considered for release on parole after five years unless the court has imposed a longer minimumnon-parole period.
|
|
2002/03 |
2003/04 |
2004/05 |
Life imprisonment |
29 |
18 |
22 |
Preventive detention |
3 |
2 |
1 |
TOTAL |
32 |
20 |
23 |
2004/05 |
|
Life Imprisonment |
16 |
Preventive Detention |
2 |
TOTAL |
18 |
Under the Parole Act 2002, offenders who receive short-term (two years or less) sentences of imprisonment are automatically released after serving half of their sentence.
They do not appear before the Board unless they are given leave by the sentencing Judge to apply for home detention and make an application to the Board.
Offenders who receive sentences of more than two years must, by law, be considered for parole after completing one-third of their sentence, unless given a longer minimum non-parole period. If declined parole, they must be seen again by the Board within 12 months, unless the hearing is postponed under s27 of the Act.
Offenders sentenced prior to 1 July 2002, under the Criminal Justice Act 1985, ordinarily become eligible for consideration for parole after serving one-third of their sentences and must be released after serving two-thirds at their Final Release Date (FRD).
Offenders who were classified as Serious Violent Offenders (SVO) do not become eligible for parole and must be released after serving two-thirds of their sentence. The Board’s only role in these cases is to set the release conditions, not to decide whether or not to release the offender.
Under s107 of the Parole Act 2002, the Department of Corrections may apply to have an offender kept in prison beyond their FRD.
Applications are made to the Board and if granted, must be reviewed every six months.
New legislation introduced in July 2004 enables the Board to impose electronic monitoring as a condition of release for offenders on parole.
As with home detention, this would involve offenders wearing an electronic anklet to enable their movements to be monitored to ensure, for instance, that they are adhering to conditions such as a curfew which may be imposed.
The law in this report is stated as the law as at 30 June 2005. References to legislation in this report are not a substitute for the statutes themselves.