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Sentencing Research Guide
Victorian Sentencing Manual
Victorian Sentencing Manual (VSM) is written by the Judicial College of Victoria (JCV). The 4th edition of the VSM, which has been extensively edited and redesigned, was published late 2019 and is freely available on the JCV website.
Victorian Sentencing Manual and Case Summaries
Sentencing Manual and Case Summaries contains recent sentencing cases from the Victorian Court of Appeal and the County Court. These summaries describe the principal facts of the decisions and identify the final sentencing outcome for each case. The summaries are grouped by offence:
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Sentencing Snapshots
Sentencing Snapshots are compiled by the Sentencing Advisory Council of Victoria. The snapshots include data for 31 offences heard in the Victorian County Court and Supreme Court of Victoria. They cover a five-year period for each offence and are updated every two years.
SACStat
SACStat, compiled by the Sentencing Advisory Council of Victoria, is a comprehensive database of statistics showing sentencing outcomes for adult offenders in Victoria. The database contains 200 offences sentenced in the Victorian County Court and Supreme Court of Victoria by offence name and over 500 offences sentenced in the Magistrates' Court.
- Higher Courts Offences : Search over 200 offences sentenced in the County and Supreme Courts of Victoria
- Higher Courts Legislation Index : Browse higher courts offences by the A to Z list of Acts of Parliament and common law
- Magistrates' Court Offences: Search over 500 offences sentenced in the Magistrates' Court
- Magistrates' Court Legislation Index: Browse Magistrates' Court offences by the A to Z list of Acts of Parliament and common law
- How to Use SACStat
- SACStat Technical Notes
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Legislation
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Commentaries & Further Resources
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Commonwealth Sentencing Resources
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General Trends in Sentencing for Victorian Courts
Sentencing Trends Data, compiled by the Sentencing Advisory Council of Victoria, covers the higher courts (County and Supreme Courts), Magistrates' Court and Children's Court:
- Cases Sentenced in the Higher Courts
- Sentencing Outcomes in the Higher Courts
- Cases Sentenced in the Magistrates’ Court
- Sentencing Outcomes in the Magistrates’ Court
- Cases Sentenced in the Children’s Court
- Sentencing Outcomes in the Children’s Court
Guide to Sentencing Schemes, created by the Sentencing Advisory Council of Victoria, provides an overview of sentencing schemes that apply to particular offences in Victoria.
It includes all Category 1 and 2 offences, standard sentence offences, statutory minimum sentences and Category A and B serious youth offences as at 1 January 2021.
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Mental Impairment and Personality Disorders
The 2020 COA judgment of Brown v The Queen [2020] VSCA 212 has impacted the forensic assessment of personality disorder and its relevance to sentencing.
Cases
Diagnostic tools
- Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition, Text Revision, 2022 (DSM-5-TR)
- The DSM-5 is the handbook used by health care professionals in the United States and much of the world as the authoritative guide to the diagnosis of mental disorders.
- Introductory Textbook of Psychiatry, 7th edition
- A companion to the DSM-5 which summarises the DSM-5® diagnostic system, various psychiatric disorders and treatments, interviewing and assessment, psychiatric emergencies, legal issues, and more.
- International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11)
- The International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) is the 11th edition of a global categorization system for physical and mental illnesses published by the World Health Organization (WHO).
JCV Resources
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