46General duty of Children’s Court relating to release of offenders

#### 46 General duty of Children’s Court relating to release of offenders 46 General duty of Children’s Court relating to release of offenders > > (1) The Children’s Court must not make a parole order directing the release of a juvenile offender unless it is satisfied that it is in the interests of the safety of the community. > > > (2) In considering whether it is in the interests of the safety of the community to release a juvenile offender, the Children’s Court must have regard to the following principal matters relating to the promotion of community safety, while recognising that the rehabilitation and re-integration of the offender into the community may be highly relevant to the promotion of community safety— > > > > > (a) the risk to the safety of members of the community of releasing the offender on parole, > > > > > (b) whether the release of the offender on parole is likely to address the risk of the offender re-offending, > > > > > (c) the risk to community safety of releasing the offender at the end of the sentence without a period of supervised parole or at a later date with a shorter period of supervised parole. > > > (3) In considering whether it is in the interests of the safety of the community to release a juvenile offender, the Children’s Court must also have regard to the following matters— > > > > > (a) the nature and circumstances of the offence to which the offender’s sentence relates, > > > > > (b) any relevant comments made by the sentencing court, > > > > > (c) the offender’s criminal history, > > > > > (d) the likely effect on any victim of the offender, and on any such victim’s family, of the offender being released on parole, > > > > > (e) if applicable, whether the offender has failed to disclose the location of the remains of a victim, > > > > > (f) any report in relation to the granting of parole that has been prepared by or on behalf of the Department, > > > > > (g) any other report in relation to the granting of parole to the offender that has been prepared by or on behalf of any authority of the State, > > > > > (h) any other matters that the Children’s Court considers to be relevant. > > > (4) Without limiting subsection (3) (e) or (h), if the juvenile offender has provided post-sentence assistance, the Children’s Court may have regard to the following— > > > > > (a) the nature and extent of the assistance (including the reliability and value of any information or evidence provided by the offender), > > > > > (b) the degree to which the offender’s willingness to provide assistance reflects the offender’s progress to rehabilitation. > > > (5) A report prepared by or on behalf of the Department for the purposes of subsection (3) must address the matters prescribed by the regulations for the purposes of this section. > > > (6) The Children’s Court is not required to consider the matters specified by this section in relation to a juvenile offender if it determines under Division 5 that it cannot make a parole order for the offender. > > > (7) In this section— > > > > post-sentence assistance means assistance in the prevention, detection or investigation of, or in proceedings relating to, any offence provided by a juvenile offender to law enforcement authorities after the offender was sentenced and that was not taken into account or considered by the sentencing court. > > **s 46:** Ins 1988 No 40, Sch 1 (20). Rep 2012 No 8, Sch 1 \[8\]. Ins 2017 No 57, Sch 2 \[3\].