Sentencing sexual and domestic violence

Content warning
This content has information about sexual violence offences that readers may find distressing. If this raises any issues for you and you need to talk to someone, help is available.

The Council gives advice to the Queensland Attorney-General on sentencing matters when asked.

We have been asked to review some aspects of sexual and domestic violence sentencing in Queensland. The Terms of Reference explains this in more detail.

We will tell the Attorney-General if we think changes should be made and how to make these changes.

The government may decide to make some or all of the changes we recommend, but it is up to the government to decide.

We completed the first part of the review on the sentencing of sexual assault and rape offences in December 2024. Our final report Sentencing Sexual Assault & Rape: The Ripple Effect is now available to read in full.  You can also read a community summary that includes our key findings and recommendations.

A Consultation Paper is now available relating to the second part of our review, assessing the impacts of domestic and family violence sentencing reforms in Queensland. A Community Summary of the paper is also available.

Key dates

Our final report on the sentencing of sexual assault and rape offences was delivered to the Attorney-General on 16 December 2024.

We are now reviewing sentencing for domestic violence offences and will deliver a final report to the Attorney-General by 30 December 2025.

Subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date with the latest news and information about our review of sexual and domestic violence sentencing.

Next steps

Domestic and family violence sentencing review:

A Consultation Paper is now available, and submissions are open. The closing date for submissions is Friday, 9 May 2025.

Sentencing sexual violence review:

This review has finished.

Our final report consultation paper, background paper and public submissions are available to read.