Description

This study of NSW offenders found that offenders given a suspended sentence are no more likely to re-offend than those given a prison sentence of up to 12 months in duration, suggesting that there is no particular deterrent effect in receiving a prison sentence for people who had not previously been sentenced to prison. BOCSAR compared 3,960 matched pairs of offenders, including a significant proportion of Indigenous offenders, one of which received a prison sentence of 12 months or less, while the other member received a suspended sentence of two years or less. None of these offenders had previously been sentenced to prison. The study estimates that halving the number of prisoners serving sentences of less than 12 months and placing them on community correction orders would save around $147 million in annual recurrent expenditure, and money could be redirected into creating more effective rehabilitation and post release support programs.