- Reforms to compel courts and the Prisoners
Review Board (PRB) to impose Global Positioning Systems (GPS) monitoring
conditions on family violence perpetrators
- Mandatory tracking will apply under any
community supervision order imposed at bail, sentencing, parole and
post-sentence
- Mandatory imprisonment will apply to offenders
who remove their monitoring equipment
The Cook
Government will introduce legislation which will compel
courts and the PRB to impose GPS monitoring conditions on family violence
perpetrators subject to community supervision.
The decision
to strengthen monitoring requirements comes after the Government's evaluation of the two-year Family and
Domestic Violence (FDV) GPS Tracking Trial revealed that an average of 10 FDV
offenders have GPS monitoring imposed each month.
Currently, discretionary GPS monitoring can be
imposed by the court or PRB on any offender - family violence or otherwise -
under certain particular supervision orders at bail, sentencing, parole or
post-sentence.
Under the
reforms, mandatory monitoring will apply to family violence perpetrators who have offended while
subject to a family violence restraining order or serial family violence
offender declaration. Monitoring will be required under any community
supervision order imposed in relation to these offenders at bail, sentencing,
parole and post-sentence.
Mandatory monitoring will also apply to family violence perpetrators
released from prison under parole or post-sentence order where a family
violence restraining order is in place.
Offences captured include violent offences, sexual offences, threats,
and non-violent offences that commonly occur in circumstances of family
violence such as stalking.
The penalty for removing monitoring equipment will be increased, and
will include a mandatory minimum term of six months imprisonment, to reflect
the seriousness of this offence.
Comments attributed to Premier Roger Cook:
"The expansion of the GPS monitoring system was a Labor election
commitment, and we delivered on that commitment by launching a two-year trial, and
allocating significant funding for its
implementation.
"As any responsible Government should, we waited for the evaluation of
that trial and carefully considered the preliminary findings and what
improvements we could make to it.
"We have responded swiftly by ensuring that even more offenders are
subject to GPS monitoring, further strengthening this Government's response to
stemming domestic violence in our community."
Comments attributed to
Attorney General John Quigley:
"GPS monitoring is a
valuable tool we have introduced across the criminal justice system, along with
other measures to address family and domestic violence.
"We've introduced the
criminal offence of suffocation and strangulation, persistent family violence
offences, aggravated penalties for offences involving family violence where
there are criminal damage threats or deprivation of liberties, and serious
family violence offender declarations.
"These latest reforms reaffirm
this Government's strong stance against family violence. They will ensure
that the law protects the most vulnerable in our community and that Western
Australia remains at the forefront of the campaign against family violence in
this country."
Comments attributed to
Police Minister Paul Papalia:
"It was a Labor Government back in 2003 that first introduced
legislation enabling the electronic monitoring of offenders on parole.
"In 2018, we launched the State Operations Command Centre (SOCC),
co-locating police and corrective services personnel to enhance policing and
real-time monitoring of offenders subject to GPS tracking.
"We expanded this even further in 2020 to enable the GPS monitoring of
criminals, including family and domestic violence perpetrators, at both bail
and sentencing.
"Adult Community Corrections and the WA Police Force at the
SOCC stand ready to monitor and respond to offenders subject to GPS tracking.
"Any breach of
their restricted movements generates an immediate alert allowing for a swift
and appropriate response from police."
Comments attributed to Prevention of Family and Domestic Violence
Minister Sabine Winton:
"The Cook
Government takes family and domestic violence extremely seriously, which
is why we have invested more than $200 million since coming into office in 2017.
"Expanding GPS monitoring is yet another example of
our commitment to stopping the cycle of violence and holding family and
domestic violence perpetrators to account.
"Today's reforms further demonstrate our commitment to increasing the safety of victim-survivors of family and
domestic violence."
