Q1. What are your views on mandatory sentencing? And why? In providing your answer, you should consider the following: (250 words) § how mandatory sentencing effects the discretionary sentencing...

1
Q. What are your views on mandatory sentencing? And why?
    The reliance on mandatory sentencing has resulted in an increase in inmate population in the country. In accordance with the new laws, there is a three month mandatory sentencing for first-time offenders convicted of a violent crime and twelve months for repeat offenders. Additionally, this has contributed to a further increase in the incarceration of Aboriginal people who constitute around ninety percent of the prison population in Northern Territory. This raises important questions regarding the fairness of the justice system.
    Mandatory sentencing laws have, at best, a limited short-term deterrent effect on the crimes they address. The new laws have rendered the Magistrates helpless in circumventing the mandatory sentence even when its imposition seems unjustly severe, especially for first-time offenders who could be corrected by using other means like education and rehabilitation. Mandatory sentencing also discounts the circumstances of the offense which could serve...