Western Australian Current Acts Western Australian Current Acts (1) A court sentencing
an offender to a fixed term of imprisonment may make an order (a parole
eligibility order ) that the offender be eligible to be considered for parole
in respect of that term by the Prisoners Review Board.
(2) A parole
eligibility order must not be made if the fixed term, or the aggregate of the
fixed terms, imposed by the court is less than 6 months, except where the
offender, at the date of the sentence, is serving or has yet to serve —
(a) a
parole term imposed previously; or
(b) a
fixed term or fixed terms imposed previously —
(i)
which, or the aggregate of which, is less than 6 months;
and
(ii)
which, with the term or terms imposed by the court, would
result in an aggregate of 6 months or more.
(3) A parole
eligibility order must not be made in respect of a prescribed term.
(4) A court may decide
not to make a parole eligibility order in respect of a fixed term imposed on
an offender if the court considers that the offender should not be eligible
for parole because of at least one of the following 4 factors —
(a) the
offence is serious;
(b) the
offender has a significant criminal record;
(c) the
offender, when released from custody under a release order made previously,
did not comply with the order;
(d) any
other reason the court considers relevant.
(5) If a court decides
that an offender is to be eligible for parole in respect of 2 or more of the
fixed terms it imposes, it is to make a single parole eligibility order in
respect of those terms.
(5a) If, in a case to
which subsection (2)(b) applies, a court decides that an offender is to be
eligible for parole, it is to make a single parole eligibility order in
respect of the fixed term or fixed terms it imposes and the term or terms
imposed previously.
(5b) If, in any other
case —
(a) a
court decides that an offender is to be eligible for parole; and
(b) at
the date of the sentence the offender is serving or has yet to serve a fixed
term or fixed terms imposed previously which, or the aggregate of which, is
less than 12 months,
the court may make a
single parole eligibility order in respect of a fixed term or fixed terms that
it imposes and the term or terms imposed previously.
(6) The effect of a
parole eligibility order made in respect of 2 or more fixed terms is subject
to section 94.
(7) This section does
not affect the operation of Part 3 Division 4 of the
Sentence Administration Act 2003 in relation to the release on parole of a
prisoner to whom that Division applies.
(8) In subsection (4)
—
release order means an order made (in this State
or elsewhere in Australia) in respect of an offender who is subject to a
sentence of imprisonment that releases the offender on conditions before the
end of the sentence, and includes such an order made under a written law
before the commencement of the Sentencing Legislation Amendment and Repeal Act
2003 .
[Section 89 inserted: No. 50 of 2003 s. 18;
amended: No. 41 of 2006 s. 76; No. 45 of 2016 s. 19; No. 45 of 2016 s. 75.]