Supervision provides an offender with rehabilitation opportunities to address the causes of their offending and motivate them to seek positive change.
Supervision targets offenders convicted of less serious offences, with relatively straight-forward rehabilitation needs and a lower risk of re-offending. It’s imposed when the court is satisfied that supervision will reduce the likelihood of further offending.
Offenders can be sentenced to supervision for between six months to one year.
How supervision works
Probation officers work with the offender to ensure they attend appropriate rehabilitation programmes to address their offending needs.
Conditions offenders must follow
Offenders will have standard and possibly special conditions imposed under supervision and must report to a probation officer who explains the requirements and conditions of the sentence, including how often they have to report.
People who have an order of supervision may also be required to:
- pay a fine
- pay reparation to their victim/s
- do community work
- be under electronically-monitored curfews through a community detention sentence.
Holding offenders to account
If an offender doesn’t follow the rules we call this non-compliance and treat it very seriously. It might mean an offender gets:
- an internal sanction, for example a warning or increasing reporting requirements
- a formal breach action which may result in a further conviction, another sentence such as community work, or imprisonment.
- an application to the court to cancel the sentence and replace it with a more restrictive sentence.