NON-CUSTODIAL ORDERS

DEFENDANTS SENTENCED TO SELECTED NON-CUSTODIAL ORDERS, Magistrates' and Children's Courts, 2011-12
	Units	Mean	Median
Community service orders	Hours	107.4	93.9
Probation orders	Months	11.2	12.0
Fines	Dollars	599.05	400.00
Good behaviour bonds	Months	11.5	12.0

Of defendants receiving a principal sentence of community service orders in the Magistrates' and Children's Courts, the median sentence length imposed was 80 hours. Defendants aged under 20 years who were sentenced to community service generally received shorter sentence lengths than older defendants, with 18% of these young defendants ordered to serve less than 40 hours compared with around 5% of all other age groups.

Probation orders and good behaviour bonds both had a median sentence length of 12 months. A greater proportion of defendants aged under 20 years with these sentence types received terms of less than 6 months (17% and 18% respectively) compared to all other age groups.

The median monetary amount that defendants with a principal sentence of a fine were ordered to pay was $400.00. Over half (55%) of defendants with a principal sentence of a fine in the Magistrates' and Children's Courts were guilty of traffic and vehicle regulatory offences. Almost all defendants (98%) receiving a fine in the Magistrates' and Children's Courts were ordered to pay less than $2000.

For more information, please refer to data cube SENTENCE LENGTH OVERVIEW.

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