South Australian Current Acts

SENTENCING ACT 2017 - SECT 44

44—Commencement of sentences and non-parole periods

        (1)         If a court imposes a sentence of imprisonment and does not suspend the sentence under Part 4 Division 2, the court must specify the date on which, or the time at which, the sentence is to commence or is to be taken to have commenced.

        (2)         If a defendant has spent time in custody in respect of an offence for which the defendant is subsequently sentenced to imprisonment, the court may, when sentencing the defendant, take into account the time already spent in custody and—

            (a)         make an appropriate reduction in the term of the sentence; or

            (b)         direct that the sentence will be taken to have commenced—

                  (i)         on the day on which the defendant was taken into custody; or

                  (ii)         on a date specified by the court that occurs after the day on which the defendant was taken into custody but before the day on which the defendant is sentenced.

        (3)         If a court imposes a sentence of imprisonment on a defendant who is not present in court, the court must direct that the sentence is to commence—

            (a)         on the day on which the defendant is taken into custody under the warrant of commitment issued in respect of the sentence; or

            (b)         if the defendant is subject to some other sentence of imprisonment—on the completion of that other sentence of imprisonment or at some earlier time fixed by the court.

        (4)         If a court fixes a non-parole period, the court must specify the date on which the non-parole period is to commence or is to be taken to have commenced.

        (5)         If a court directs that a sentence of imprisonment is to be taken to have commenced on the day on which the defendant was taken into custody, any non-parole period fixed by the court in respect of that sentence will be taken to have commenced on that day.

        (6)         If, on imposing a sentence of imprisonment, the court fails to specify the date on which or the time at which the sentence is to commence or is to be taken to have commenced, the sentence will—

            (a)         in the case of a defendant not then in custody—commence on the day on which the defendant is subsequently taken into custody for the offence; or

            (b)         in the case of a defendant already in custody for the offence—be taken to have commenced on the day on which the defendant was last so taken into custody; or

            (c)         in the case of a defendant in custody for some other offence—commence on the day on which the sentence is imposed, unless the sentence is to be served cumulatively under this Act or any other Act.