澳大利亚新南威尔士州近年来严重性犯罪者以社区纠正令（CCO）获释的案例激起广泛关注。[1]在截至2026年3月的四年间，性侵犯主要罪行的判决中，社区纠正令占比近4%，相比之下全职监禁判决为485人。[1]法律专家指出，这一现象根源于2018年的量刑改革，该改革禁止对包括严重性侵犯在内的严重犯罪使用中等强度纠正令（ICO），导致法官被迫在监禁和更温和的社区令之间作出选择。[1]
受害者权益保护不足加剧了这一问题。[1]性侵犯者Justin Downs因性侵犯被判处三年社区纠正令，法院更是拒绝向受害者Anastasia Treharne发放人身保护令。[1]Treharne随后发起的change.org请愿书已获得超过30,000个签名，要求监禁成为性侵犯定罪的常规判决。[1]前治安官David Heilpern强烈批评这类判决，称被定罪强奸案不监禁的判决"完全令人难以接受"，并指出19例社区纠正令判决"远远过高"。[1]性侵犯的标准非假释期为七年，最高监禁期为14年。[1]
A troubling pattern has emerged in New South Wales courts, where judges have imposed community correction orders (CCOs) on convicted sexual offenders rather than prison sentences. Over a four-year period through March 2026, CCOs accounted for nearly 4% of sentences for sexual assault as a principal offence, compared to 485 full-time custodial sentences.[1] Legal experts attribute this outcome to a 2018 sentencing reform that prohibited the use of intermediate correction orders (ICOs)—a middle-ground sanction—for serious crimes including aggravated sexual assault, forcing judges to choose between imprisonment and lighter community-based penalties.[1]
The case of Justin Downs illustrates the consequences of this legal framework. Downs received a three-year community correction order for sexual assault, and the court refused to issue an apprehended violence order (AVO) protecting his victim, Anastasia Treharne.[1] The standard non-parole period for sexual assault is seven years, with a maximum custodial term of 14 years.[1] Treharne has launched a change.org petition that has gathered more than 30,000 signatures, calling for imprisonment to become the standard sentence for sexual assault convictions.[1] Former magistrate David Heilpern described non-custodial sentences for convicted rape cases as "completely unacceptable," characterizing the 19 CCO outcomes in sexual assault cases as "far too high".[1]