Following a plea of guilty or a finding of guilty by a jury, a Judge is required to impose a sentence for the offence or offences committed. In determining sentence, the Judge is not free to act as the Judge pleases.

While the Judge has a range of discretion, the Judge is bound by well established sentencing principles. An overview of those sentencing principles may be found in the sentencing principles document.

Judge for Yourself: A Guide to Sentencing in Australia has information on the sentencing process.

Publication Policy

Since February 2001 the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory has made available on its website the full text of all sentencing decisions. This is done in order to ensure ease of public access to those decisions and to supplement media reporting. The text consists of the sentence imposed and the Judge's accompanying reasons.

It is generally placed on the internet the day the sentence is imposed, although there may be occasions where it is not published until one or two days later.

In appropriate cases, usually offences of a sexual nature, or where the person sentenced is under the age of 18, the text is edited to avoid identification of the victim and/or the accused.

Sentencing remarks will only be retained on this website for a period of 28 days from the date of sentence.  Persons wishing to obtain sentencing remarks from 2001 onwards that are not on this site should contact the Supreme Court Library on (08) 8999 6583 or at courtslibrary.doj@nt.gov.au