Some legislation passed by parliament has written into it mandatory minimum sentences. This means that if found guilty of the offence, the accused must receive the prescribed minimum sentence. There are a number of West Australian laws that carry a mandatory sentence. These have generated debate over whether they achieve their goals.
The purpose of mandatory sentencing laws are to address a specific issue in society through deterrence. You may have heard of mandatory sentencing laws in NSW over one punch deaths.
With publicity, the laws are aimed at deterring people from committing these crimes.
Western Australia has a number of crimes that carry with them a mandatory sentence.
Convictions for serious sexual or physical assaults perpetrated during a burglary carry a mandatory 75% of the maximum penalty.
Assaulting and causing bodily harm to a police officer carry a mandatory sentence of 6 month imprisonmnent
Any offender who is convicted of three burglary offenses has a minimum two year imprisonment sentence
Read the two websites below and make notes on some of the issues with mandatory sentencing.