Sentencing and appeals

Sentencing process

After pleading guilty to a crime or after being found guilty by a magistrate, judge or jury, an accused person will be sentenced. Once they have been convicted, they will be referred to in court as 'the offender' and a process of sentencing will occur. Sentences include custodial and non-custodial sentences. For more information visit Penalties for criminal offences. 

Costs

In addition to any court penalty you may receive for the offence you committed, you may also be ordered to pay courts costs, a victims support levy, legal costs, and criminal compensation. 

The court can order you to pay money to compensate victims of the crime for loss, damage or injury you caused.

Victims Services can also order offenders to pay restitution to recover money paid to a victim under the Victims Support Scheme.

If you cannot pay, you should get legal advice about your options.

See paying costs for more information.

Prison sentences

If you are found guilty of a serious offence or if you are a repeat offender, you may be given a prison sentence.

You can get legal advice about how your sentence is calculated and the parole process from Prisoners' Legal Service.

Appealing a sentence or conviction

If you disagree with the outcome of your case, and believe that either the outcome or the sentence you were given was too harsh, you may be able to appeal.

The appeal process is complex and you should get legal advice to understand the chance your appeal has of being successful.

There may be risks in appealing a decision from the Local Court (for example, if your appeal is unsuccessful the Court may increase your sentence).

You can appeal to the Court against your:

• Sentence, if you pleaded guilty.
• Conviction and sentence, if you pleaded not guilty.

An appeal must be filed within 28 days from the date of the decision that you want to appeal. If more than 28 days have passed from the date of the decision, you will need to get legal advice on how to appeal. 

Get legal representation 

The organisations below may be able to help you get legal advice for your specific circumstances.