Victorian Current Acts

SENTENCING ACT 1991 - SECT 5B

    (1)     This section applies in relation to sentencing an offender for a standard sentence offence unless—

        (a)     the offender was under the age of 18 at the time of the commission of the offence; or

S. 5B(1)(b) amended by No. 22/2020 s. 25(1).

        (b)     the offence is heard and determined summarily.

S. 5B(1)(c) repealed by No. 22/2020 s. 25(2).

    *     *     *     *     *

    (2)     In sentencing an offender for a standard sentence offence, a court—

        (a)     must take the standard sentence into account as one of the factors relevant to sentencing; and

        (b)     despite section 5(2)(b), must only have regard to sentences previously imposed for the offence as a standard sentence offence in relation to the sentencing for which this section applied.

    (3)     Subsection (2)—

        (a)     does not limit the matters that a court is otherwise required or permitted to take into account in determining the appropriate sentence for a standard sentence offence; and

        (b)     is not intended to affect the approach to sentencing known as instinctive synthesis.

    (4)     A court that sentences an offender for a standard sentence offence must at the time of doing so state the reasons for—

        (a)     imposing that sentence; and

        (b)     any non-parole period fixed in accordance with section 11 as part of that sentence if that period is shorter than the period specified in section 11A(4)(a) , (b) or (c), as the case requires.

    (5)     As part of its reasons under subsection (4), a court must refer to the standard sentence for the offence and explain how the sentence imposed by it relates to that standard sentence.