Time Served by Life Sentence Prisoners in Australia*
| DOI | 10.1177/000486587600900204 |
| Date | 01 June 1976 |
| Author | David Biles,Arie Freiberg |
| Published date | 01 June 1976 |
AUST &NZ JOURNAL
OF
CRIMINOLOGY (June 1976) 9 (77-87)
TIME SERVED BY
LIFE
SENTENCE PRISONERS
IN AUSTRALIA0
77
Arie
Freiberg]
and
David Biles]
The
length of time served by life sentence prisoners is one of the key elements
in the
debate
between
advocates
and
opponents of capital punishment for
offenders
who
have committed serious crimes,
and
with the demise of the
death
penalty, either de iure or de facto, it has become a
matter
of considerable
importance.
The
public has a right to
know
how
long "lifers"
may
be
expected
to remain in prison, life sentence prisoners themselves are certainly personally
concerned to find answers to the question
"how
long is life?"
apart
from the
pronouncements of prison folklore,
and
releasing authorities
may
appreciate the
guidance they can gain from norms for Australian jurisdictions.
This
paper
aims to present, in summary form, the results of a search of prison
records,
and
where
appropriate parole
and
mental health records, for all persons
sentenced to life imprisonment in all Australian jurisdictions. As was to be
expected, it was not possible to locate records for all jurisdictions for the whole
of this century,
and
the completeness
and
reliability of the records cannot
be
absolutely guaranteed.
For
each jurisdiction, however, records for the following
periods, dating from conviction,
were
examined in detail:
]urisdiction
New
South Wales (including
Australian Capital Territory)
Victoria
Queensland
South Australia (including
Northern Territory)
Western Australia
Tasmania
From
March 1932
May 1928
April 1900
December
1918
April 1918
February
1951
To
31
December
1974 .
31
December
1974
31
December
1974
31
December
1974
31
December
1974
31
December
1974
The
disparities in the periods for which records were available must be
borne
in
mind
when
considering the results of this survey.
Amajor
problem
for this study was that
of
deciding which cases to include.
Different jurisdictions use .different terminology and, although this is a study of
life sentences,
it
was
decided
to use as the basic criteria for inclusion:
oThis
paper
is a substantially abridged version of a research
report
published in July 1975 by the
Australian Institute of Criminology
under
the title The Meaning of
ccLi/e":
A
Study
of
Life
Sentences in Australia. Acknowledgement of assistance received by the authors from many persons
is made in that report.
tLLB (Hons), Dip
Crim
(Melb) Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme
Court
of Victoria, Senior
Research Officer, Australian Institute of Criminology, Canberra.
tBA, B Ed lMelb), MA (La Trobe), MAPs S, Assistant Director (Research), Australian Institute of
Criminology, Canberra.
To continue reading
Request your trial