Defined Terms

Seven Purposes Of Sentencing - prescribed by the Judicial Conference of Australia - 2014

All sentencing legislation in Australia outlines the purposes that may be considered when imposing a sentence. The main purposes are:

1. Punishment – usually means imposing a sentence that inflicts some kind of pain or loss on the offender.

2. Rehabilitation – means imposing a sentence that will help to change the offender's behaviour into that of a responsible citizen.

3. Specific deterrence – means discouraging the particular offender from committing more crimes.

4. General deterrence – refers to the idea that potential offenders in the community will be discouraged from committing a particular crime when they see the penalty imposed for that kind of offence.

5. Denunciation – is a formal public expression that the behaviour is unacceptable to the community.

6. Community Protection – means both protecting the community from the offender and from crime generally.

7. Restorative Justice – means promoting the restoration of relations between the community, the offender and the victim.

Justice for the Innocent Victim/s is not a 'purpose' when Sentencing convicted criminals.

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