Leave to Apply for Substitution of Home Detention

When an offender is sentenced to a short term of imprisonment, the court, at sentencing, may give an offender leave to apply for the sentence of imprisonment to be cancelled and substituted with HD.

This leave to apply may only be given if the court would have sentenced the offender to HD but were unable to because there was no suitable address available.

This topic describes the conditions to be met by the offender.

Conditions for re-sentence

The court may give an offender leave to apply for cancellation of imprisonment and substitute it with a sentence of HD if the offender:

• has been sentenced to a short term of imprisonment, and
• would have been sentenced to HD, if a suitable residence had been available at the time.

If given leave to apply for re-sentence, an offender can make an application for re-sentence from prison on the grounds that they now have a suitable address for HD.

The offender can not be re-sentenced to HD unless the court is satisfied that:

• the proposed residence is suitable, and in an area where HD is operated
• the relevant occupants are aware of the conditions of HD, and consent to having the offender in the residence, and
• the offender is aware of the conditions of HD, and agrees to comply with those conditions.

Application

Once the offender has submitted a suitable address to the court in the form of an application for re-sentence, CPPS will be required to provide an updated report to the court on the suitability of the application.

Possible outcomes

After considering the application the court may:

• grant the application, and re-sentence the offender to HD at the proposed residence
• deny the application on the grounds that the proposed residence is not suitable, but give the offender leave to apply again if a suitable residence is identified, or
• deny the application, and deny the offender leave to apply again.