offences, despite being the most common offence type in offender sentence appeals. For that reason, the second, and arguably more useful, way of analysing offence types in sentence appeals is to analyse the principal proven offence in each case (that is, the offence that attracted the most severe penalty in the case, and therefore best represents the criminality of the case as a whole). During the reference period, the most frequent principal proven offence types in offender sentence appeals were drug offences (28% of offender sentence appeals or 43 of 153 cases), acts intended to cause injury (18% or 28 of 153 cases) and sexual offences (14% or 22 of 153 cases). Similarly, in offender sentence appeals that were successful, the most common principal proven offence types were drug offences (34% or 15 of 44 cases), sexual offences (20% or 9 of 44 cases) and acts intended to cause injury (16% or 7 of 44 cases). Sentence types in offender sentence appeals The overwhelming majority of sentences appealed by offenders were immediate terms of imprisonment (141 of 153 offender sentence appeals; see Table 2). The remaining sentences were almost all quasi-custodial sentences, including nine partially suspended sentences, two wholly suspended sentences and one community correction order. This is to be expected as a sentence that affects an offender’s liberty tends to provide a strong incentive to appeal. Of the cases in which an imprisonment sentence was appealed, 41 (29%) were successful, representing just 4% of all imprisonment sentences (not just sentences that were appealed). The proportion of suspended sentences and community correction orders that were successfully appealed, as a proportion of the overall number of these orders imposed, was even lower, at less than 1%.
offences, despite being the most common offence type in offender sentence appeals. For that reason, the second, and arguably more useful, way of analysing offence types in sentence appeals is to analyse the principal proven offence in each case (that is, the offence that attracted the most severe penalty in the case, and therefore best represents the criminality of the case as a whole). During the reference period, the most frequent principal proven offence types in offender sentence appeals were drug offences (28% of offender sentence appeals or 43 of 153 cases), acts intended to cause injury (18% or 28 of 153 cases) and sexual offences (14% or 22 of 153 cases). Similarly, in offender sentence appeals that were successful, the most common principal proven offence types were drug offences (34% or 15 of 44 cases), sexual offences (20% or 9 of 44 cases) and acts intended to cause injury (16% or 7 of 44 cases). Sentence types in offender sentence appeals The overwhelming majority of sentences appealed by offenders were immediate terms of imprisonment (141 of 153 offender sentence appeals; see Table 2). The remaining sentences were almost all quasi-custodial sentences, including nine partially suspended sentences, two wholly suspended sentences and one community correction order. This is to be expected as a sentence that affects an offender’s liberty tends to provide a strong incentive to appeal. Of the cases in which an imprisonment sentence was appealed, 41 (29%) were successful, representing just 4% of all imprisonment sentences (not just sentences that were appealed). The proportion of suspended sentences and community correction orders that were successfully appealed, as a proportion of the overall number of these orders imposed, was even lower, at less than 1%.