Alternatives to Prison:
Exploring non-custodial sentencing of domestic
violence offenders in NSW’s lower courts
Christine Bond & Samantha Jeffries
School of Criminology and Criminal Justice
Griffith University
(c.bond@griffith.edu.au)
February 2015
Background
 Shifts in criminal justice responses to domestic violence
 Scarcity of research on sentencing domestically violent
offenders
School of Criminology & Criminal Justice
Key research question
Are domestic violence offences sentenced differently from
other violent offences?
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Unique opportunity
 NSW provides a unique opportunity in Australia
 Domestic violence “flag”
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Prior research
 Limited comparative studies of sentencing domestic vs
other violence
» Absence of multivariate studies (in/out)
» Restrictive samples (length of term)
 Limited studies of non-custodial sentencing more generally
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Current data
 64,201 convictions
 17.6% Indigenous
18.7% female
27.1% domestic violent-related
New South Wales adult lower court administrative data
January 2009 – June 2012
Most serious charged personal offence
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Measuring sentencing outcomes
Domestic
violence cases
(%)
Non-domestic
violence cases
(%)
Total
Cases
(%)
Imprisonment
9.7
10.5
10.3
Intensive/other detention
0.6
1.0
0.8
Supervised community-based
20.7
16.9
18.0
Unsupervised community-based
31.6
25.5
27.1
Community service
3.5
4.9
4.6
Monetary
11.1
26.1
22.0
Minor/nominal
22.8
15.1
17.2
100.0
100.0
100.0
Total
All between-group differences significant
at p<0.05 (N=64,201)
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WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT SENTENCING
TO PRISON?
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Are domestic
violence cases
sentenced
differently?
D.V. offence
Trial
Released pre-trial
Imprisonment
outcome
Multiple counts
Serious violence
Offfence seriousness
5+ prior appearances
2-4 prior appearances
Age
* All significant at p<0.05 (N=64,201)
Female
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Indigenous
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
1.4
1.6
1.8
2
2.2
2.4
2.6
2.8
3
3.2
3.4
3.6
3.8
4
4.2
4.4
4.6
4.8
5
5.2
5.4
5.6
(Odds ratios shown. Model estimated with constant
& missing dummy [not shown]. Line represents
equal odds.)
Are domestic
violence cases
sentenced
differently?
D.V. offence*
Trial*
Released pre-trial
Length of term
Multiple counts
Serious violence*
Offfence seriousness*
5+ prior appearances*
2-4 prior appearances
Age*
* p<0.05 (N=6,598)
Female*
(Estimated OLS coefficients shown. Model
estimated with constant & missing dummy [not
shown].)
2.8
2.6
2.4
2.2
2
1.8
1.6
1.4
1.2
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
-0.2
-0.4
-0.6
-0.8
-1
-1.2
-1.4
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Indigenous*
WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT SENTENCING
TO NONCUSTODIAL ORDERS?
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Are domestic
violence cases
sentenced
differently?
Compared to
Imprisonment
Domestic
violence vs other
violence
Intensive/other detention (vs imprisonment)
0.746*
Supervised community-based (vs imprisonment)
1.455*
Unsupervised community-based (vs imprisonment)
1.446*
Community service (vs imprisonment)
0.952
Monetary (vs imprisonment)
0.839*
Minor/nominal (vs imprisonment)
1.810*
* p<0.05 (N=64,201)
(Relative risk ratio shown. Adjusted for Indigenous
status, sex, age, prior appearances, offence
seriousness, serious violence, multiple counts,
release pre-trial, and went to trial. Model estimated
with constant).
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0.3
0.25
0.2
Supervised
Monetary
Minor
0.1
Non-imprisonment
sentencing
outcomes
Unsupervised
0.15
Are domestic
violence cases
sentenced
differently?
0.05
* All between-group significant at p<0.05
(N=64,201)
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Intensive
0
(Average predicted probabilities shown. Adjusted
for Indigenous status, sex, age, prior appearances,
offence seriousness, serious violence, multiple
counts, release pre-trial, and went to trial. Model
estimated with constant & missing dummy).
Community service
D.V. offence
Other violent offence
Are domestic
violence cases
sentenced
differently?
D.V. offence
Trial
Released pre-trial*
Long suspended/
bond orders
Multiple counts*
Serious violence*
D.V. offence*
Offfence seriousness*
5+ prior appearances*
2-4 prior appearances*
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
Age
* p<0.05 (N=28,946)
Female*
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Indigenous
0.4
0.7
1
1.3
1.6
1.9
2.2
2.5
2.8
3.1
3.4
3.7
4
4.3
4.6
4.9
5.2
5.5
5.8
6.1
6.4
6.7
7
7.3
7.6
7.9
8.2
8.5
8.8
9.1
9.4
9.7
10
10.3
10.6
10.9
11.2
11.5
11.8
12.1
12.4
12.7
13
13.3
13.6
13.9
14.2
14.5
14.8
15.1
(Odds ratios shown. Model estimated with
constant & missing dummy [not shown].
Line represents equal odds.)
Summary
(compared to similarly-situated other violent offences)
Imprisonment
Length of term
On average, less likely to be
sentenced to prison
On average, shorter prison terms
Noncustodial
Length of noncustodial
On average, more likely to receive
suspended/bond (vs
imprisonment) sentences
On average, less likely to receive
“long” suspended/bond terms
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So what?
 Does this mean can conclude leniency?
» Complex process  social/contextual factors?
» Expectations around rehabilitation?
» Misunderstandings of the nature of domestic violence
offending?
 Adequacy of explanations of sentencing patterns?
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