Heinous killers face parole ban under tough new laws

New Queensland laws targeting criminals serving life sentences who killed children or committed multiple murders will be the toughest in the nation if passed.

Heinous criminals may never get parole under tough new laws proposed by the Queensland government.

The new laws will target criminals serving life sentences who kill children or commit multiple murders and will be the toughest in the nation if passed.

Amendments introduced by the Palaszczuk Government would deny dangerous criminals the opportunity to apply for parole and also make co-operation a significant influence when assessing their eligibility.

Police Minister, Mark Ryan said the reforms would give Queensland the strongest parole framework in the country.

“These will be the toughest parole laws in the nation aimed at prisoners serving life sentences for the most heinous crimes,” Mr Ryan said.

“This is about targeting those who commit the worst crimes with laws that protect the victim’s families from unnecessary trauma,” he said.

Police Minister Mark Ryan says the parole laws will be the toughest in the nation if passed. Picture: NCA NewsWire / John Gass

Under the proposed reforms, the president of the independent Parole Board Queensland will be authorised to prohibit certain prisoners from securing parole for up to 10 years.

There will be no limit on the number of times the president can make the decade-long prohibition.

Mr Ryan said an individual prisoner could expect to face multiple bans on obtaining parole.

“Those life sentenced prisoners who have killed a child or committed multiple murders have no right to expect they will get parole,” he said.

“In fact, they may never get parole … they may never even get to apply for parole.”

The ‘No Body No Parole’ framework will consider a prisoner’s co-operation during earlier stages of police investigations and will restrict those who did not co-operate from reapplying until they provide new information.

Additionally, even if the president does not place a 10-year ban on a prisoner pursuing parole, a further requirement will be placed on heinous criminals who fall into the category.

Relevant prisoners will need to prove to the Parole Board they do not pose a threat to the community before parole can be granted.

Placing the burden of proof onto the prisoner is a further obstacle designed to protect victim’s families from further trauma and minimise unnecessary parole applications.

The proposed amendments will work alongside updated Ministerial Guidelines for the Parole Board to ensure that “timeliness” of a prisoner’s co-operation is a significant influence when making a judgment.

This means when determining a “No Body No Parole” matter, the board must place a greater emphasis on whether a prisoner gave information to authorities relating to the victim’s body in a timely manner.

The measures intend to incentivise early co-operation from offenders and help provide closure to a victim’s family and friends sooner.

Queensland Homicide Victims Support Group Chief Executive Officer, Brett Thompson said the organisation supported the amendments and he was pleased that community concerns had been addressed.

“I’m especially keen to see a change to the framework around the timeliness of co-operation factor in the Parole Board Queensland’s consideration of No Body No Parole applications,” Mr Thompson said.

“I know this is important to our members,” he said.

Originally published as Heinous killers face parole ban under tough new laws