Historical crimes to be dealt with under laws of today

Rapists and other criminals who are caught years after committing their crime will be dealt with by today’s standards under new legislation.

The state government has been given the green light to introduce a new law ensuring rapists and other criminals who are caught years after a crime will be dealt with by today’s standards.

NSW Attorney General Mark Speakman said victims of crime, judges, magistrates, lawyers and prosecutors approved of the legislation after a six-month review, which took place earlier this year.

The legislation, which is a first of its kind in Australia, will be introduced next year.

The Daily and Sunday Telegraphshave brought issues around rape sentencing to the attention of the government.

This included the case of historical rapist Gregory Richardson, after the presiding judge slammed the “strange” outdated legislation he was bound by.

NSW Attorney General Mark Speakman. Picture: Tim Hunter

Mr Speakman said the law would mostly impact sexual assault sentences, where legislation and community attitudes have changed dramatically in the intervening decades.

As it stands, courts must apply sentencing practices from when the crime was committed, except for child sex abuse.

“Sometimes those guideposts don’t reflect our community’s current stance on crimes, this is especially so for heinous acts like sexual assault or domestic violence,” Mr Speakman said.

“Asking courts to put themselves in the shoes of a judge years or decades earlier can be impractical, inefficient and produce inconsistent outcomes.

“It’s unacceptable for an ­offender to get more lenient treatment, just because they’d dodged police detection, or their offence had not yet been reported by an often traumatised victim.”

This law will also have an ­impact on other cases, including commercial fraud and similar financial crimes, which can take time to detect and for the investigations to conclude.

Victims have been left distraught after admitted rapists get off with little or no jail time.

The key stakeholders including legal experts, victims’ rights groups and law enforcement will be consulted on a draft exposure bill this year.

Feedback will then be considered and a final bill will be introduced to parliament in 2022.

If passed, the bill will amend the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999.

A number of international jurisdictions require courts to have regard to contemporary sentencing patterns and practices when sentencing for historical offences, including in England and Wales.

The law follows 2018 ­legislation, which ensured child sex offenders were ­sentenced according to contemporary practices.

That act came after the Royal Commission into ­Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse recommended legislation to ensure sentences for child sexual abuse are imposed according to practices that exist at the time of sentencing.

Got a news tip? Email [e-mail]