Life imprisonment sentences
A bit over a year ago myself and Graeme Edgeler did an OIA to Corrections about life sentences. I’ve had the reply sitting in a folder for a year or so, and realised I hadn’t blogged the info, which is quite interesting. The data is as of late 2013.
- 780 offenders given a life sentence since 1985
- 276 of the 780 have been granted parole at least once
- The mean period until parole (for those who got it) is 11 years six months and the median is 11 years
- The mean period between eligibility and parole (for those who got it) is 2 years one month and the median is 1 year and 8 months
- Of those not yet given parole the mean period since eligibility is 5 years and 5 months and the median period is 4 years and 8 months
- Of the 276 granted parole, only 11 have been charged with breaching parole conditions. However more will have had breaches but not been charged
- Of the 276 granted parole, 151 had applications to the Parole Board to recall them to prison, and 118 were granted. This suggests that over half of those released on parole offend to a degree that Corrections tries to recall them
- 72 of the 276 granted parole have been reconvicted of a serious offence while in the community
The OIA is here – Graeme Edgeler – 21 October 2013 – Life Sentences
My overall impression is that the reoffending rate is high enough that parole is being granted too often for those on life sentences.