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I am liking the sound of a law change being introduced in New South Wales, where they are no longer going to allow good character references to be factored into court sentences.

You know the drill. Someone is found guilty of a crime, they get their mates to write to the judge saying what a great person they are and how they’ve done all these good things.

The judge reads all these glowing references and, when it comes to handing down a sentence, gives them some sort of discount because of their “good character”.

The New South Wales government has decided it’s not having any more of that. And I think we should do the same thing here. Because someone’s so-called good character means zilch to their victim or their victims, doesn’t it?

If we’re going to make noises about the criminal justice system needing to be more victim-focused, then this would be a pretty good start. Because how galling must it be for the victim of a crime to turn up at the sentencing and hear about all these wonderful things that have been said about the person who offended against them?

What’s more, how galling must it be to not only hear how wonderful this person apparently is, but to also then witness the judge discounting their sentence because of these glowing reports.

Even if someone has done amazing things in the past, that doesn’t make their offending any less serious. It doesn’t diminish the impact of their offending on their victim or their victims, does it? 

Not that good character references are going to disappear altogether in New South Wales. They’re still going to be allowed during the trial process. But they’re not going to be coming across the desk of judges when they’re about to dish out sentences.

The change follows a report by the New South Wales Sentencing Council which said the references are based on a vague and uncertain concept.

It said just because someone has a good character reference, that doesn’t tell the sentencing judge anything about the likelihood of someone re-offending or the likelihood of them being rehabilitated.

Which makes total sense.

It also says that good character discounts are traumatising for victims.

I couldn’t agree more.

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