Victorian magistrates trained on how to avoid giving sentence that would get violent criminals deported

Victorian magistrates have been given training on how to sentence violent migrant criminals such as pedophiles and drug dealers so they don’t get deported at the end of their jail term.

Victorian magistrates have been given training on how to avoid imposing sentences that would get violent migrant criminals deported. Picture: Diego Fedele

Victorian magistrates have been trained on how to avoid imposing sentences that would result in violent migrant criminals such as pedophiles and drug dealers being deported from Australia.

The shock training formed part of professional development sessions for magistrates last week and was described by some attendees as “troubling”.

During the sessions, magistrates were trained on how to impose sentences for visa holders to avoid triggering deportation under migration laws.

A hypothetical example was given involving a Vietnamese student who had just arrived in Australia and had sexually assaulted an eight-year-old multiple times.

Advice was given to sentence the accused to 11 months and 15 days so that he would not be deported at the end of his sentence.

Federal laws allow the deportation of non-citizen criminals who have been in Australia for less than 10 years and sentenced to a year or more in prison.

The Herald Sun has also been told magistrates were lectured on avoiding jail sentences for drug-trafficking crimes.

Victoria is one of a number of states that can consider deportation in sentencing. Picture: Diego Fedele

“This permissive approach to crime is straight from the socialist playbook,” one justice source familiar with the training said.

Latest federal government data shows over the past five years the number of visa cancellations for child sex offences fell from 104 to just 27.

A court spokeswoman wouldn’t answer specific questions about the training but did not deny any of the details as described by the Herald Sun.

“A professional development day for judicial officers of the magistrates court was held on Thursday 24 October, which included presentations from a number of speakers on areas of the law relevant to the work of the court,” she said.

“The focus of the day was sentencing. The law treats deportation as a ‘relevant circumstance’ for the purposes of sentencing.

“Scenarios are commonly used in education sessions to provide an environment in which to illustrate the operation of relevant legislative provisions and to discuss the proper application of principles of law. This is a common approach.

“Scenarios are often drawn from decided cases and may be modified to focus attention on a particular aspect of the law, for example, section 501(3A) of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth).

“Every judicial officer is an independent decision-maker in relation to each matter before them and they act on that basis.”

According to the Judicial College of Victoria, the prospect that an offender will be deported following sentence can be a relevant sentencing factor if it will make the burden of imprisonment more onerous or may result in the offender losing the opportunity to settle permanently in Australia.

However, courts are not to consider the prospect of deportation as a mitigating factor unless it will actually be a hardship for the offender.

Courts can also not consider the possibility of deportation without specific evidence or a prosecution concession.

Victoria is one of a number of states that can consider deportation in sentencing, however, there is no national consensus on the issue and some states prohibit potential deportation being considered.

Changes to federal legislation in 2014 saw the number of criminals having their visas cancelled surge from 76 in 2013-14 to 983 in 2015-16.

That number fell to 244 in 2023-24.