Tougher justice reforms are aiming to quicken justice and strengthen sentencing and parole throughout NSW, and particularly in the Hunter.
Under the new reforms, violent sex offenders will be more easily targeted for ongoing detention, while a new 'no body, no parole' rule will motivate killers to disclose the location of unfound victim's remains.
The state government is investing more than $200 million in the reforms which will also include suspended sentences will be abolished and replaced by increased supervision from police, while sentencing discounts will be altered to encourage offenders to make earlier guilty pleas.
Parliamentary Secretary for the Hunter Scot MacDonald is welcoming the reforms with open arms because it will both encourage people to reach a decision on their plea faster, and get police out on the beat and out from behind the desk."This is very important for somewhere like the Hunter - the police are telling us they're spending extended periods of time dealing with an offence and a case and then they're caught behind the desk, dealing with that and they're trying to deal with the prosecution, they're trying to deal with the defence."
Key stakeholders, including victims groups, law enforcement agencies and the legal profession will be consulted on the reforms.
"This is probably long overdue, we have people basically abusing the parole system, people who've been stringing out the justice process in terms of leaving their guilty pleas really late. We need better management of high risk sex offenders and violent offenders," said Scot MacDonald.
For more information: www.justice.nsw.gov.au/reform
