Section 10 of the Procedure Act relates to non-conviction bonds. It includes the provisions that were previously found in s.556A of the Crimes Act . A court can adjourn proceedings and grant bail for a period of up to 12 months, either for the purpose of assessing the offender's capacity for rehabilitation or to allow the offender to demonstrate that rehabilitation has occurred. Section 44 of the Procedure Act will require the court to first set the term of the sentence that is to be imposed and then set a non-parole period, which is the minimum amount of time that the prisoner must be kept in detention in relation to the offence. The term is the sentence that may be served, the non-parole period is the period that must be served in detention.
Detention can be by way of full-time imprisonment, home detention or periodic detention.
That section, in theory, required that a court first set a minimum term, which must be served, and then add a period during which the prisoner could be released on parole. In practice, things were not quite so simple. It is only once a head sentence has been set that the court can determine the minimum term, that is, the period which the offender must, in justice, serve in gaol. Section 12 of the Procedure Act reintroduces suspended sentences as a sentencing option. Suspended sentences involve the court imposing a sentence of imprisonment and then suspending its operation and releasing the offender on specified conditions.