Offender: A person who has been found guilty of an offence, or who has pleaded guilty to an offence (has admitted the facts of an offence). Office of Public Prosecutions: An independent statutory authority that commences, prepares and conducts criminal prosecutions on behalf of the Director of Public Prosecutions. Parity (principle of parity): Consistency of punishment for co-offenders in a case. Parole: Supervised and conditional release of an offender from prison before the end of a prison sentence. While on parole, the offender is still serving their sentence, and is subject to conditions designed to help with their rehabilitation and reintegration into the community, and to reduce the chance of their reoffending. Parolee: An offender who has been released on parole. Parsimony (principle of parsimony): To be parsimonious is to do no more than is necessary to achieve an intended purpose. The principle of parsimony means that the sentence imposed must be no more severe than is necessary to meet the purpose or purposes of sentencing the offender. Penalty unit: Fine amounts are based on penalty units rather than specific dollar amounts. Penalty units are adjusted annually to keep pace with inflation. For the financial year 2017–18, a penalty unit is $158.57. Plea: The response by the accused to a criminal charge – ‘guilty’ or ‘not guilty’. Precedent: A decision that sets down a principle to be followed in similar cases in the future. Probation An order for a child to be supervised in the community. Probation is the least intensive supervision order available for children.
Proportionality (principle of proportionality): A sentencing principle that prohibits a court from ordering a punishment that is more severe than is appropriate for the gravity of the offence. Prosecution: A legal proceeding against an accused for a criminal offence. Prosecutions are brought by the Crown (through the Director of Public Prosecutions or police prosecutors), not the victim. Remand: To place an accused in custody pending further court hearings dealing with the charges laid against them. Remorse: Regret for past actions. Reoffending: Returning to or repeating criminal behaviour. Also known as recidivism. Restitution: An order under the Sentencing Act 1991 (Vic) requiring an offender (or any other person in possession or control of stolen property) to return the stolen property, return the proceeds of the sale of stolen property, or to make payment of a sum of money up to the value of the stolen property. Sanction: A penalty or sentence. Sentence: The penalty that the court imposes on a person who has been found guilty of an offence. Sentence indication: An indication from a magistrate hearing proceedings for a summary offence, or an indictable offence triable summarily, of the type of sentence that will be imposed if the accused pleads guilty, or an indication from a judge hearing proceedings for an indicatable offence of whether the accused would be likely to receive a sentence of imprisonment if they plead guilty. Sentencing factors: The factors that the court must take into account when sentencing. Sentencing hierarchy: All possible sentences available to courts arranged in order from the most severe to the least severe.