Queensland's mandatory life imprisonment for murder lacks public support, law reform body finds
In a consultation paper released on Thursday, the Queensland Law Reform Commission described the state's sentencing scheme for murder as 'the most inflexible in Australia' and raised three options for amendment for public debate.
The proposed reforms directly contradict the headline policy of the new Liberal National party government. Premier David Crisafulli last year sponsored new laws expanding the mandatory sentence to children, which the government concedes is a violation of their human rights.
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'The community does not support the mandatory penalty of life imprisonment for murder. The community expects sentencing to reflect the culpability of murder defendants,' according to the QLRC paper.
Queensland's combination of mandatory sentencing and minimum non-parole periods of at least 20 years makes it the most inflexible in the country, the commission said.
South Australia, the Northern Territory, Canada and the United Kingdom are among the other jurisdictions that impose mandatory life sentences for murder.
The independent law reform institution was tasked with undertaking the review as a result of a recommendation of the Women's Safety and Justice taskforce in 2021, which examined coercive control and the experience of women and girls across the criminal justice system.
It conducted preliminary consultation, including 96 meetings with stakeholders including judges, prosecutors, criminal defence lawyers, DFV victim survivors, legal aid, community justice groups and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander elders.
The QLRC raised four options for the state's approach to murder sentences:
Making no change
Keeping mandatory life for particular killings such as of very vulnerable victims like children
Setting a presumptive life sentence which the defence would have to argue down
Or a maximum life sentence.
The latter is most common in comparable jurisdictions, it said.
The mandatory penalty creates several problems, the QLRC said, including discouraging guilty pleas, with almost three-quarters of convicted defendants to a murder charge pleading not guilty, compared to just 11.2% of those guilty of manslaughter.
It also does not adequately reflect the particulars and 'nature of the crime and 'may disproportionately impact disadvantaged persons, including Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islander peoples … and (domestic and family violence) DFV victim survivors', the QLRC said.
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'In jurisdictions, such as Victoria, where the penalty for murder is maximum life imprisonment, the rate of guilty pleas is higher than in Queensland,' the paper reads.
The commission also found that the state's self-defence laws are unnecessarily complex and hard to understand, and do not work effectively for victim survivors of domestic and family violence who use force against their abuser.
It found that the defence of domestic discipline – which permits the legal use of corporal punishment by parents and teachers for purposes of behavioural discipline or correction – is used to excuse the unreasonable use of serious violence.
And the defence of 'killing on provocation' continues to be used by domestic violence perpetrators who have killed out of jealousy or anger.
The QLRC chair, Fleur Kingham, said: 'our preliminary assessment is that significant reforms are required.'
The Crisafulli government's 'adult crime, adult time' policy was a key commitment at the election in October. The government conceded it directly discriminates against children by limiting their 'protection from cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment'.
The commission is open to submissions from the public until 20 April. A final report with recommendations is expected in December this year.
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