About us

The Queensland Sentencing Advisory Council provides independent research and advice, seeks public views and promotes community understanding of sentencing matters.

Our role

The Council:

• informs the community about sentencing in Queensland through research and publications
• engages with Queenslanders to gather their views on sentencing
• if asked by the Attorney-General, advises the Attorney-General on matters relating to sentencing.

The Council consists of up to 14 members appointed by the Governor in Council following recommendation from the Attorney-General.

We operate in accordance with part 12 of the Penalties and Sentences Act 1992. We were re-established in 2016 after an amendment to this Act. The previous Sentencing Advisory Council operated from 2010 to 2012.

Our commitment to victim-survivors

The Council is committed to representing many voices of the community, including victim-survivors of crime.

We take our responsibility to better understand the needs of victim-survivors seriously. We will continue our close and ongoing engagements with victim-survivors and the organisations that support them.

We will also ensure the impacts of current sentencing on Queensland First Nations communities and peoples are considered. We will seek guidance from our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Panel where necessary and ensure all activities are conducted in a culturally inclusive and sensitive manner.

We will conduct all our engagements with victim-survivors in accordance with the guidance set out in the Charter of Victims’ Rights from the Victims Commissioner of Queensland.

What the Council can’t do

If you are a member of the public, please note that the Council is unable to:

• Give legal advice. For legal advice, please contact Legal Aid, a community legal centre, or the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service (Qld) Ltd.
• Give you information about your own sentence or a family member’s sentence. To find this information, please contact Sentence Management at Queensland Corrective Services.

For media outlets and other professionals, the Council is unable to:

• Review sentencing outcomes for individual cases.
• Provide opinion on how a specific case has been sentenced (though we can comment on the wider sentencing context).