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Part IB of the Crimes Act 1914 (Cth)

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Last Updated: 27 January 2010

Overview of sections contained within Division 2

Division 2 of Part IB of the Crimes Act 1914 (Cth) is titled 'General Sentencing Principles'. There are five sections contained within this Division. Sections 1 - 4 (outlined below) are mandatory sentencing principles that a court sentencing a federal offender must conisder when passing sentence.

1. Section 16A sets out matters a court is required to have regard when passing sentence:

Section 16A(1) provides that '...a court must impose a sentence or make an order that is of a severity appropriate in all the circumstances of the offence': see Sentencing Factors.

Section 16A(2) provides a non-exhaustive list of sentencing factors a court must take into account in sentencing. The section does not specify which of these factors are aggravating or mitigating factors. To the extent that the listed matters are 'relevant and known' to the court it is mandatory for the court to take these factors into account in sentencing: see Sentencing Factors.

Section 16A(2A) prohibits a court from taking customary law or cultural practice into account to either mitigate or aggravate the seriousness of criminal behaviour under a federal offence: see Indigenous Offenders.

Section 16A(3) provides that a court, in determining whether a non-custodial sentence or order is appropriate, must have regard to the nature and severity of the conditions that may be imposed on, or may apply to, the offender, under that sentence or order: see Sentencing Factors.

2. Section 16B is the legislative recognition of the totality principle. The section requires a court to have regard to any sentence already imposed or liable to be served by the federal offender.

3. Section 16C requires a court to take into account the financial circumstances of a federal offender before imposing a fine.

4. Section 16D(1) prohibits a court from imposing any form of corporal punishment for a federal offence and more broadly, in sub-s (2), the Act provides that 'a person serving a federal sentence must not be subjected to any form of corporal punishment'.

5. Section 16BA allows a court, in passing sentence on a person convicted of a federal offence, to take other offences into account and sets out the federal scheme that governs this process.

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Commentary on additional general sentencing principles

The rule against double punishment and the one transaction principle are two common law general sentencing principles.

Unlike the totality principle (see s 16B above) these two principles are not expressly set out in Division 2 of the Crimes Act 1914 (Cth). However the rule against double punishment and the one transaction principle are important sentencing principles that apply to the sentencing of federal offenders.

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