Disciplinary Action and Order Revocation

Relevant critical success factors and good practice standards identified in the literature include graduated responses to reward compliance and penalise noncompliance with critical success factors for graduated sanctions given as certainty; celerity (swift response); consistency; parsimony (least level to achieve desired result); proportionality; progressiveness (continued non-compliance results in increasingly severe sanction); neutrality (objective and impartial); certainty of response (all violations receiving a response of some kind, whether immediately applied or not); and a clearly understood and consistently applied process for dealing with non-compliance.

Comparison:

HD orders may be revoked for a range of reasons in all jurisdictions, eg, breach of conditions, reoffending (in some jurisdictions identified separately as a revocation circumstance while in others reoffending is covered under breach of conditions), withdrawal of consent (whether by offender or co-resident), as well as for other jurisdiction-specific reasons. A range of penalties for non-compliance other than revocation of the order (eg, formal warnings, more stringent application of conditions, variation of conditions, etc) is available across jurisdictions although there is jurisdictional variation in whether there is discretion for corrective services officers to impose these penalties or whether this is the province of the issuing authority or other decision-making body (ie, court or Parole Board).

Circumstances under which HD orders may be revoked

	breach of conditions	reoffending#	consent withdrawal	other
NSW	Board is satisfied of failure to comply with order obligations*		on offender application, on withdrawal of consent by household*	offender fails to appear before Board when called*
Vic	on breach ofconditions heard by Board ¹	by court on imposing another sentence*	upon withdrawal of consent by offender*	on application by offender or by department because an approved residence is no longer available*
Qld	failure to comply with order*	automatic upon sentence to imprisonment for another offence committedduring the term of the order except if sentence is for fine default or restitution or if sentence is required to be served under an intensive supervision order or as suspended sentence*	(not explicitly stated in policy or procedures documentation but offender refusal to order could occur in practice)	if poses serious and immediate risk of harm to self or others* if poses an unacceptable risk of committing an offence* if preparing to leave Qld other than under written approval to travel* if Board receives information that, if it had been received before the order was made, would have resulted in the order not being made*
SA	breach of conditions*		detainee or coresident may apply to court for order revocation for court-ordered HD	Chief Executive Officer has absolute discretion to revoke for any reason* if there are significant changes in plans after release (eg, loss of employment) the home detainee may be returned to prison pending a decision by the Prisoner Assessment Committee
ACT	if court is satisfied there is a breach of order conditions*		if offender withdraws consent*	if court is satisfied the order is inappropriate because of change in the person's circumstances* if court is satisfied that continuation may cause harm to anyone*
NT	breach of conditions of order*	if commits an offence against a law in force in the Territory or elsewhere during the term of the order*	offender can apply to court for revocation	on application from Director*
NZ	breach of conditions*	if commits an offence punishable by imprisonment*	offender may apply to the Board to be returned to prison at any time	if poses an undue risk to the safety of community or any person or class of person(s)* breach of conditions* if jeopardising the safety of any person at his/her residence* if a suitable residence in the area where the HD scheme operating is no longer available because of changed circumstances* if subject to special condition requiring attendance at a residential program, if jeopardising the safety of any person or the order or security of the residence or if failed to remain at the residence for duration of program or if the program ceases operation or participation is terminated for some other reason*

Action upon breach of HD

	available disciplinary action	authority to impose
NSW	more stringent application of conditions in accordance with the terms of those conditions eg, increase in required hours of community service work, a reduction in the extent of planned or previously permitted out-ofresidence activities, further restrictions on association with other persons (by supervisor) variation of conditions (by Board) order variation (by Board) revocation of order (by Board)	Parole Board supervising officer
Vic	formal warning (by corrective services or by Board) delay in moving to a less restrictive monitoring phase (by corrective services) more stringent application of conditions, eg, increased hours of community work (by corrective services) addition or variation of special conditions (by Board) revocation of order (by Board)	Parole Board* Secretary (for minor breaches** Manager HD Unit (for minor breaches)
Qld	order suspension for up to 28 days (by Chief Executive of corrective services) order amendment (by Board) order suspension (by Board) order cancellation (by Board) formal warning (by Board or case officer) reviewing case management plan (by Chief Executive) changes to case management plan, eg, increased reporting frequency or testing regime (case officer)	Corrections Board Chief Executive Area Manager supervising officer
SA	reprimand (by HD case manager or Manager, Case Management) removal of a privilege, eg, curfew imposed, increased level of supervision, reinstatement of electronic monitoring (by HD case manager) return to prison (by Chief Executive Officer)	court (for frontend HD)** Chief Executive Officer HD case manager
ACT	initiate arrest of detainee list matter at court (where minor breach but otherwise complying with order) formal warning (case officer) review case management strategy, eg, increased monitoring (case officer in consultation with HD Manager)	court (for order revocation) HD Manager case officer
NT	order discharge order variation order revocation and confirmation of prison sentence order revocation and quashing of prison sentence and resentence	court
NZ	regression to an earlier phase and subject to more monitoring and fewer approved absences (by Probation Officer) delayed progression to the next phase for a set period of time (by Probation Officer) withdrawal of approval for absences other than to attend work, training or programmes are specified on the Release Licence (by Probation Officer) recall to prison (by Board) imprisonment for a term not exceeding 1 year or to a fine not exceeding $2,000 on summary conviction for order breaches or detention conditions imposed by the Board without reasonable excuse (court)**	Parole Board court Probation Officer

	level of discretion
NSW	every breach of an HD condition must have a response; if a repeat or serious breach must refer to Board for consideration of revocation ² breach reports to the Board must be completed immediately and submitted to the Board to arrive on first working day following the decision to breach Board may continue order, impose further conditions or vary order conditions if of opinion order should not be revoked; may reinstate order on application of offender who has served at least 3 months full-time detention for a revoked order* Board may revoke without hearing and issue a warrant for offender arrest (must be reviewed after arrest) or call offender to hearing to show cause
Vic	flexibility for the Home Detention Manager to allow discretion in the penalties imposed for minor breaches, eg, additional unpaid community work expectations or other program requirements; all breaches of a serious nature to be referred to the board for action ³ breach process will occur if the offender refuses any program component or does not attend without legitimate reason ³
Qld	in considering suspension, the Chief Executive may take into consideration whether the prisoner had reasonable excuse, the prisoner's offence, general conduct, response to community supervision, and psychological state Chief Executive must immediately advise Board making the original order of grounds for suspension, Board may cancel Chief Executive suspension order at any time* if failure to comply results in a conviction, the Area Manager will determine whether the order is to be suspended or not
SA	the Home Detention Case Manager determines disciplinary action after taking into account the seriousness of a home detainee’s misconduct, depending on order type and degree of non-compliance The Chief Executive Officer must revoke on breach and may in absolute discretion revoke for any other reason* police or corrections officer who believes on reasonable grounds that HD probationer is contravening, has contravened or is about to contravene that condition of the bond may arrest the probationer and bring as soon as practicable before the sentencing court to be dealt with for breach of bond*
ACT	police may arrest and bring before court without warrant if believe on reasonable grounds there is breach of conditions, corrections officer must tell court if believe on reasonable grounds there is a breach* breach action is to be initiated by the HD Officer based on a test of reasonableness (ie, alleged breach’s relevance, significance and specificity to the HD order), Officer must consider if the available information and any explanation offered by a detainee for an unapproved event is reasonable; if an HD Officer then determines that the Home Detainee has breached their obligations the matter must be brought before the relevant Court
NT	court must revoke the order if satisfied there has been a breach unless, having regard to the circumstances of the offender or the breach, and the court is of the opinion that it is appropriate to do so, may direct that the order continue in force and may vary the terms and conditions of the order* failure to comply with specific conditions by the detainee must be acted upon immediately if a client provides a positive result in any subsequent breath test return the matter to court as soon as possible when a client is convicted during the course of their home detention of further offences that are punishable by a term of imprisonment the HD order will be revoked and the client imprisoned for the period previously suspended
NZ	Board may revoke at any time but must hold another hearing as soon as practicable officers must take immediate and appropriate enforcement action following any act of non-compliance (policy of zero tolerance) with level of enforcement reflecting the level of non-compliance Probation Officer sanction to be used for minor infringements, breach action should not be used for minor first time incidents extensive guidelines and examples of further offending and appropriate enforcement actions are detailed in policy under categories of charged with offence other than breach, convicted of new imprisonable offence, absconding, absence without approval for under 30 minutes and for over 30 minutes, entry refusal, EM equipment tampering, separate for first time and subsequent breaches etc

# where explicitly references separately to reoffending as a breach of core conditions.

* explicitly prescribed by legislation.

1 Victoria distinguishes between minor breaches and serious breaches (see footnotes in following tables).

** explicitly prescribed by legislation.

2 NSW: guidelines for reporting set out in policy as: must report to Board all arrests or convictions, absconds, ie, absences over 24 hours and whereabouts unknown, refusal to submit to drug or alcohol testing, refusal to comply with direction or admit to home or submit to search or authorise release of information, if possess firearm or offensive weapon, major curfew breach, ie, absence from approved location for more than 2 hours; must also report if in light of circumstances offender is deemed to be at risk of serious offending even if a minor breach; other breaches not requiring Board reporting: tampering/disabling electronic monitoring equipment, minor breach or curfew or deviating from approved activity, change of residence without prior approval, failure to seek approval/notify of other change in circumstances, eg, of employment; other factors to determine in breach response include: combination of different breach types, interval between breaches, total number of breaches, prior progress, readiness to acknowledge responsibility and accept therapeutic referral, impact on perceptions of other detainees and general community.

3 Vic: there is a distinction made in legislation between minor breach where warning and more stringent application of conditions sanction are available and serious breach (ie, compromising someone's safety, offence condition breach, non-compliance of obligations under restitution or compensation order, breach after repeated failure to comply with conditions, or breach of core conditions of remaining at approved residence at all times and of adhering to specified activity plan) where other sanctions available; policy documentation distinguishes between a minor breach (eg, unacceptable absence from curfew of 5-20 minutes) and serious breach (ie, as legislatively defined above, unacceptable absence from curfew of more than 20 minutes, intentional damage to monitoring system, positive result to breath or urine test, refusal to submit to breath or urine test, exhibiting obstructive, threatening or aggressive behaviour towards the case manager or any other person).

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