Factors Influencing Sentencing

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Undoubtedly, within the Australian legal system, there are a variety of factors that, affect the sentencing decisions in either a positive or negative manner. Additionally, the three main factors that the magistrate takes into consideration include mitigating factors, aggravating factors and victim impact statements. These factors can affect the case at hand to an extent depending on how much evidence the defence and prosecutors have at the time of the sentencing hearing. In addition, all of these factors are covered under The crimes (sentencing procedure) act 1999 NSW. Furthermore, The Crimes (sentencing procedure) Act 1999 NSW is a general act used in the criminal court that covers the use of aggravating, mitigating and victim impact statements …show more content…
Under The crimes (sentencing procedure) Act 1999 NSW the prosecutors can offer evidence of aggravating factors that would merit a harsh sentence during the trial. Furthermore, common aggravating factors include a prior record of similar convictions, use of a weapon or the severity of the injuries suffered by a victim and vulnerability of the Victim. An example where the court took Aggravating factors into consideration is detective inspector Bryson Anderson murder in December 2012 where a mother and son duo stabbed detective Anderson with a 15-centimetre hunting knife whilst he was attending a complain about arrows being fired into their yard from a crossbow fired from the Barbieri's house. In addition, according to police witnesses saw Fiona Barbieri (mother) swinging a sledgehammer. The aggravating factors that were taken into considerating include the use of a weapon by the offenders (Mitchell Barbieri and Fiona Barbieri) and the victim (Bryson Anderson) was vulnerable. The reason the court saw Bryson Anderson as a vulnerable victim was a result he was unarmed and also because of his occupation of him being a police officer. As a result of this factor the killer's mother, Fiona Barbieri, was handed a 10-year sentence for manslaughter, with a non-parole period of six years and six months. In the Sydney, morning heralds titled 'No …show more content…
Under Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Amendment (Family Member Victim Impact Statement) Bill 2014 victim impact statements can be heard in the sentencing hearing but not all criminal case accept the use of victim impact statements as evidence. A victim impact statement can have a large influence on the sentence given to the offender as it provides the victim the ability to explain to the offender how the outcome of their actions have impacted the victim. An example of how a (family) Victim impact statement has influenced the magistrate and judge is Stephanie Scott’s mother’s victim impact statement about her daughter's murder by Vincent Stanford who was 25 years old. He raped and murdered stephanie scott April 8 2015. The Mother’s statement states “Her life is slowly, inevitably being packed into boxes. We are leaving her behind. There will be no end for us; we had a truly amazing girl who was a constant source of pride and joy. Now we have to learn to live with the void that losing her has left.
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