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Supervision is a rehabilitative community-based sentence managed by Community Probation & Psychological Services (CPPS). Supervision requires offenders to address the causes of their offending. Offenders can be sentenced to supervision for between six months and one year.

Who decides?

Only a sentencing judge can impose supervision. They may take into account a pre-sentence report and recommendation from a probation officer who has assessed the person’s offending needs and what sentence and programmes are likely to be most suitable.

How does it work?

Offenders will have standard and possibly special conditions imposed under supervision. Offenders report to a probation officer who will explain the requirements and conditions of the sentence, including how often they have to report.

Standard conditions

Standard conditions include:

  • reporting regularly to CPPS
  • restrictions on living and working arrangements
  • restrictions on associating with certain people.

Special conditions

Special conditions include:

  • participation in training programmes
  • participation in non-residential rehabilitative programmes
  • addressing any other issues that reduce the person’s risk of further offending.

The probation officer’s role

Probation officers work with offenders on supervision to:

  • address the causes of their offending behaviour
  • motivate them to seek change
  • ensure they attend rehabilitative programmes as required.

Enforcing the conditions

If offenders are not meeting the requirements of their sentence, probation officers can take the offender back to court on a breach charge. If convicted for breaching or not meeting the requirements of the sentence, the court may impose up to three months’ imprisonment or a fine of up to $1000.

The probation officer can also apply to the court for a review of sentence and ask for the offender to be re-sentenced on the original charge.

What else happens?

In addition to supervision, the court may also sentence the offender to:

  • pay a fine
  • pay reparation to the victims
  • do unpaid work through a community work sentence
  • be under electronically-monitored curfews through a community detention sentence.

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