Preventive Detention and the Habitual Offender*
| Author | Duncan Chappell |
| Published date | 01 September 1969 |
| Date | 01 September 1969 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/000486586900200304 |
Preventive Detention
and
the Habitual Offender•
DUNCAN
CHAPPELLt
An
'habftuaZ
crimmat'
Is one
who
possesses
crimuuü
qualitf.u
mnerent or
latent
tn
hts
mental
constitution
(but
who
ts
not
msane
or
mentally
deticient)
;uibo nas manitesteä asettieä
practsce
~n
crime;
and
who
presents a
danger
to
tne soctety
tn
whtch
ne
lives
(but
is
not
merelu
a
prostttute,
vagrant,
habitual
drunkard
or
habitual
petty
äetinquentv )
IT
has
been said
that
the
habitual offender represents
"the
nuelear
problem" of crlme. He ts
an
offender who, as
the
above definition tndlcates,
has
demonstrateda
settled intention to contlnue committing orrences,
usually despite experience of a variety of forms of treatment, Including
repeated prison sentences. Apparently impervlous to
attempts
at
rehabilita-
tton
or deterrence by normal penological methods,
the
question rematns
what
should be done with
an
offender of
thls
type who presents acontmumg
threat
to
the
securlty of
the
community in which he restdes.
.
In
Australla, as
in
many
other countries,
the
solution to
the
problem
of
the
habltual offender has been sought
through
the
medium of special
leglslatlon enabllng courts to sentence such aperson to a long period of
preventive detention. While
the
actual perrod of detention which may be
tmposed differs somewhat from
State
to
state,
as do
the
definitions
adopted of
an
habltual offender, Australian courts possess extensive
statu-
tory
powers to deal
with
persistent recidivists.
The
Nature
01
Australtan
Habttual
Ottenäer
Legislation
In
New South Wales,
the
Habitual CriminaIs Act,
1957,
grants
power
to
the
courts to sentence an habitual offender to a
term
of preventlve
detentlon of
not
Iess
than
flve years
nor
more
than
fourteen years. Th1s
term
of preventlve detention 18
an
addition to
any
other
punishment
1nßlcted upon
the
offender in relation to offences for which he
stands
convlcted before
the
court. Before
the
offender becomes el1gible for such
asentence, he must be of or above
the
age of 25 years
and
have, on
at
least
two occaslons, prevlously served separate terms of
tmpnsonment
for
• A paper presented to
the
First National Oivil Liberties Convention held in Sydney
on 5Ootober 1968.
tB.A., LL.B. (Tas.),Ph.D. (Cantab.), Lecturer in Law, University of Sydney.
1.
Moms,
N. (1951),
The
Habltual
Criminal. Longman
end
Green: London, p. 8.
158
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