Most first-time DV offenders fined for breaching DV orders

The Queensland Sentencing Advisory Council today released a Sentencing Spotlight on contravention of a domestic violence order (CDVO) ahead of their final report on domestic and family violence sentencing reforms.

The Sentencing Spotlight focused on cases where CDVO was the most serious offence sentenced. It showed offending patterns, the sentences they received, and how often people reoffended.

Council Chair the Hon Ann Lyons AM said the data revealed a difference in how the justice system responded to first-time offenders compared to repeat offenders.

“Over the 8 years leading up to 30 June 2024, a monetary penalty was the most common outcome for first-time DV offenders sentenced for CDVO, accounting for 52.9 per cent of cases. However, this percentage significantly decreased to 27.4 per cent when the individual had a prior conviction for a DV offence,” Ms Lyons said.

“Only a small fraction – 6.1 per cent – of first-time DV offenders who breach DV orders receive imprisonment. However, this changed dramatically if they had prior DV offences, with 30.9 per cent resulting in imprisonment.

“It’s interesting to see the shift in punishment from a fine for the first-time offence to imprisonment for a second or subsequent offence in recognition of the increased seriousness when there is a previous history of DV offending and the higher maximum penalty that applies.

“It underscores why understanding the effectiveness of sentencing responses is crucial and why it’s so important to do the research and gather the evidence to confirm if sentencing reforms are working and achieving their intended purpose.”

A significant portion, 82.2 per cent, of all adults sentenced for contravention that received imprisonment, received a term of less than 12 months, with the average length of imprisonment across all cases being 6.7 months.

The data indicated that men were disproportionately represented among those sentenced for contravention, accounting for 84 per cent.

This is higher than the rates observed across all offences, where 75.7 per cent of persons sentenced are male.

The research also notes that almost half of the individuals sentenced for contravening a domestic violence order reoffended.

Ms Lyons acknowledged the high number of repeat offending and said it raised questions about the effectiveness of the current deterrent and rehabilitation efforts.

“A reoffending rate of almost 45 per cent among those previously punished points to a significant presence of recidivism,” Ms Lyons said.

“That’s why it is important that both sentencing reforms and sentencing options are appropriately targeted to reduce the likelihood of reoffending and promote victim safety.

"As the Council moves into the public consultation phase for the Terms of Reference on domestic and family violence sentencing reforms in Queensland, a key focus will be on whether the more serious treatment of these offences is translating into better outcomes, as well as the impact of the ‘aggravating factor’ that applies to other forms of domestic violence offending.”

Read the Sentencing Spotlight on CDVO.

View consultation paper—Assessing the impacts of domestic and family violence sentencing
reforms in Queensland.