You be the Judge VCE Murder Slides

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Murder
Case study for VCE
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1. Sentencing origin and range
What is the origin and range of sentences
available to a judge in Victoria?
Photo John French / Courtesy of The Age
Chief Justice Marilyn Warren of the Supreme
Court of Victoria
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Who is responsible for sentencing?
In Australia, responsibility for sentencing is
spread among three groups
Parliament makes the laws
Government puts laws into operation
Courts interpret the laws

• Creates offences and decides what the maximum
  penalties will be
• Makes the rules that the courts must apply to
  cases
• Sets up punishments for judges and magistrates to
  use

• Apply the law within the framework set up by
  parliament
• Set specific sentences for individual offenders

• Correctional authorities (e.g. prisons) control
  offenders after sentencing
• Adult Parole Board supervises offenders who are
  on parole

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Where is sentencing law found?

• Sentencing Act 1991
• Children, Youth and Families Act 2005
• Common law previous court judgments
• Various Acts and Regulations creating particular
  offences, for example
• Crimes Act 1958 deals with a range of crimes,
  including injury offences
• Road Safety Act 1986 deals with a range of
  driving offences, including drink driving and
  drug driving

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Types of sentences
Most severe

• Imprisonment
• Drug treatment order
• Community correction order
• Fine
• Adjourned undertaking

Least severe
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2. Sentencing theory

• What must a judge consider when deciding what
  sentence to impose?

Source Victorian Sentencing Manual, Judicial
College of Victoria
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Purposes of sentencing
These are the ONLY purposes for which sentences
can be given
Sentencing Act 1991 s 5(1)
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Principle of parsimony
Parsimony extreme care when imposing punishment

Where a choice of punishment exists,the judge
should take care to choosethe least severe
option that will achieve the purposes of
sentencing
Example - If there is a choice between imposing a
fineor a community correction order, a fine
should be imposedprovided it meets the purposes
of sentencing
Sentencing Act 1991 ss 5(3)?(4), 5(6)?(7)
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Factors that must be considered
Factors that must be consideredwhen sentencing
Maximum penalty current sentencing practices
Type of offence how serious
Circumstancesof the offender
Victim
Aggravating or mitigating factors
Relevant Acts of Parliament previouscourt
decisions
Factors making the crime worse, intention,
effects, method, motive, weapons, role the
offender played
Prior offences, age, character, mental
state.Alcohol, drug, orgambling
addiction. Personal crisis, guilty plea
Impact of crime on victim (e.g. psychological or
physical trauma), material or financial loss
Factors that increase or lessen
theseriousnessof the crime
Victim Impact Statement
Sentencing Act 1991 s 5(2)
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Victim impact statements

• If a court finds a person guilty, a victim of the
  offence may make a Victim Impact Statement (VIS)
• A VIS contains details of any injury, loss, or
  damage suffered by the victim as a direct result
  of the offence
• A person who has made a VIS can request that it
  be read aloud during the sentencing hearing

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How long is a sentence really?

• Cumulative or concurrent?
• Cumulative ? sentences for two or more crimes
  that run one after the other, e.g. two x
  five-year prison sentences served cumulatively
  10 years in prison
• Concurrent ? sentences for two or more crimes
  that run at the same time, e.g. two x five-year
  prison sentences served concurrently five years
  in prison
• The total effective sentence (TES) (or head
  sentence) ? the total imprisonment sentence for
  all offences within a case, after orders making
  sentences cumulative or concurrent

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Non-parole period

• A non-parole period is set by the court. It is
  the part of the sentence that must be served in
  prison before the offender may apply to be
  released on parole
• If a prison sentence of two years or longer is
  imposed, the court must set a non-parole period
• Courts have a choice of whether or not to set a
  non-parole period for prison sentences of one to
  two years
• A non-parole period cannot be set for prison
  sentences of less than one year
• Parole is the prisoners release from prison
  before the end of his or her total possible
  prison sentence, subject to conditions (e.g.
  regular reporting to a parole officer)

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3. The crime and the time

• What is murder?
• What is the maximum penalty?

Photo Trevor Poultney
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Murder

• A person who intentionally causes the death of
  another person is guilty of the indictable
  offence of murder.
• Maximum penalty
• Level 1 imprisonment (life) or
• imprisonment for such other term as is fixed by
  the court

Crimes Act 1958 s 3
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Murder - People sentenced
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Length of imprisonment
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Baseline sentencing current median
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Baseline sentencing baseline sentence
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Average total effective sentence non-parole
period
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4. The case

• What are the facts of this case?

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The offender

• Tony Prior is a 22 year old man ? he was 20 at
  the time of the offence
• He is described as placid and easygoing
• Over three to four years, Prior became morbidly
  obsessed about death and committing murder
• He has a verbal IQ of 71 and failed at school
• Since leaving school, he has been a successful
  cabinet maker
• He has been found guilty of one count of murder

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The crime 1

• Tony Prior and his good friend Brook Tanner were
  drinking beer at a mutual friends place
• Prior produced a hunting knife that he had
  earlier stolen and told his friends that he
  needed it for protection
• Soon after, Prior and Tanner returned to their
  own flat
• In an unprovoked attack, Prior stabbed Tanner a
  number of times
• Tanner broke free and staggered out onto the road
  where passers-by administered first aid and
  called an ambulance
• Meanwhile Prior slashed his own throat and wrists
  and stabbed himself in the chest

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The crime 2

• Prior then called 000, saying that he needed
  serious help and that he had tried killing a
  friend with a knife
• Prior showed no concern for the fate of his
  friend but concentrated on his own predicament
• Meanwhile, police and ambulance had arrived in
  response to the calls of passers-by
• Tanner died in hospital an hour later
• Prior was treated for his wounds in hospital and
  underwent psychiatric examinations

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Factors for consideration

• Prior pleaded guilty as soon as it was determined
  that he was not mentally impaired
• From the age of 15, Prior downloaded grotesque
  and depraved images and materials from the
  internet
• At all times, Prior frankly admitted
  responsibility for his actions and never blamed
  alcohol or drugs for his actions
• Despite his difficulties at school, Priors
  teachers found him polite and easy to deal with
• Prior is single and has a full-time job
• He has no previous convictions
• He has expressed remorse, albeit qualified, for
  his actions

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5. The sentence

• What sentence would you give?

Photo Department of Justice Regulation
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You decide

• What sentence would you impose?
• If imprisonment
• What would be the total effective sentence?
• What would be the non-parole period?

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The maximum penalty

• A person who intentionally causes the death of
  another person is guilty of the indictable
  offence of murder, which carries the maximum
  penalty of
• Level 1 imprisonment (life) or
• imprisonment for such other term as is fixed by
  the court

• Tony Prior is guilty of one count of murder and
  could receive a possible maximum of life
  imprisonment

Crimes Act 1958 s 3
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What the trial judge decided

• Tony Priors case, Supreme Court
• Count 1 (Murder) 20 years imprisonment
• Non-parole period 15 years
• Already served the 671 days Prior had already
  spent in prison are to be reckoned as served
  under the sentence
• Trial judges comment
• ...it is important that the sentence that is
  imposed on you be sufficient to constitute an
  appropriate denunciation by this Court of your
  crime, and to properly uphold the sanctity of
  human life in our community. It is also
  necessary that the sentence which is imposed on
  you be of sufficient magnitude to deter other
  like-minded persons from resorting to lethal
  violence to satisfy their violent impulses. In
  addition, it is necessary to impose a sentence
  which will be sufficiently long to enable you,
  hopefully, to gain appropriate insight into your
  wrongdoing, and into the underlying causes which
  precipitated you into the events of that fateful
  night.

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6. Conclusion

• Effective sentencing achieves a balance between
  the interests of society, the concerns of the
  victim, and the best interests of the offender
• The more information society has about crimes and
  the people involved in them, the more reasonable
  it is in its demands about sentencing

Photo Department of Justice Regulation