ACT Victims Register

ACT Corrective Services maintains the ACT Victims Register. This register records the names and contact details of victims who have asked to be registered in order to receive information about an adult offender who is subject to a custodial or community-based sentence. Information held on the ACTVictims Register is confidential and will not be released to others without the consent of a registered victim. The register is strictly controlled and access to it is limited to a small number of authorised staff.

The ACT Victims Register aims to provide registered victims with timely, relevant and accurate information about an offender’s incarceration and, in the case of an offender released on a community-based order, the management of the offender’s sentence. It will also ensure that a victim is contacted and provided with an opportunity to make a submission to the Sentence Planning Group and/or the Sentence Administration Board about any application for unsupervised external leave, release to parole or licence by an offender.

The operation and management of the ACT Victims Register is governed by provisions in the Crimes (Sentence Administration) Act 2005 (CSA Act).

Eligibility Criteria

For the purpose of registration on the ACT Victims Register a victim is defined as:

• a person (a primary victim) who has suffered physical injury, mental injury or emotional suffering (including grief), pregnancy, economic loss or a substantial impairment of rights accorded by law because of an offence committed against them by a sentenced offender; or

• if a primary victim dies because of an offence committed by a sentenced offender, a person who was financially or psychologically dependant on the primary victim immediately before the primary victim’s death; or

• if the primary victim is a child under 15 years of age, a person who has parental responsibility for the primary victim.*

* Note: This does not limit the cases in which information may be given to a person acting for a primary victim. For instance a person may act for a primary victim that has legal incapacity due to an intellectual or other disability.

Victims are not required to reside in the Australian Capital Territory to be eligible for placement on the ACT Victims Register.

Time Limit and Period of Registration

There is no time limit regarding a victim’s right to request placement on the ACT Victims Register. A victim can register at any time during the period the offender is serving a sentence for the offence relating to the victim. This includes the period in which an offender may be subject to a parole order or licence.

Registration on the ACT Victims Register is effective until the completion of the sentence imposed on the offender.

What Information Can a Registered Victim Receive? 

If you are a registered victim of an offender who is serving a term of imprisonment, you may be informed of the following:

• the length of the sentence, the offender’s parole eligibility date and earliest release date;
• the correctional centre where the offender is detained and any transfer of the offender to another correctional centre;
• any change in an offender’s security classification which may result in the offender being eligible for unsupervised external leave;
• any unsupervised external leave given to the offender;
• the death of the offender;
• the escape and re-capture of the offender;
• the transfer of the offender’s sentence to another State or Territory; and
• provided such disclosure is considered appropriate in the circumstances, any other exceptional event relating to the offender.

Registration on the ACT Victims Register will also ensure that you will be invited to make a written submission to the Sentence Planning Group and/or the Sentence Administration Board about any application for unsupervised external leave, release to parole or licence by an offender.

If you are a registered victim of an offender who is serving a sentence by way of periodic detention or a community based order, you may be informed of the following:

• the duration of the offender’s order;
• information about the place and time the offender may be required to report for periodic detention or community service work;
• any non-association order or place restriction order that relates to you;
• the transfer of the offender’s order to another State or Territory; and
• the cancellation or variation of the offender’s order.

Limitations of the ACT Victims Register

In providing offender information to a registered victim, ACT Corrective Services must be mindful of the offender’s right to privacy and must ensure that the disclosure of an offender’s personal information is in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 and CSA Act.

Victims that have been placed on the ACT Victims Register will only receive information about an offender that has been sentenced in respect to an offence committed against them.

Victims cannot receive information about:

• any unrelated sentence that an offender may be serving concurrently with the sentence relating to the victim;
• any sentence imposed on the offender after the completion of the sentence relating to the offence committed against the victim;
• an offender’s prior criminal history.

How do victims register?

To be placed on the ACT Victims Register a victim is required to forward a completed registration form to the Victim Liaison Officer of ACT Corrective Services. This registration form is included in the ACT Victims Register information pamphlet or may be downloaded by clicking on the link below:

ACT Victims Register Registration Form

Alternatively, a registration form can be obtained by contacting the Victim Liaison Officer of ACT Corrective Services on (02) 6207 0836 or email victims.register@act.gov.au.

Once completed, the registration form should be forwarded to:

The Victim Liaison Officer
ACT Corrective Services
GPO Box 158
Canberra ACT 2601

How often do registered victims receive information about an offender?

Upon acceptance of your registration, the Victim Liaison Officer will provide you with all relevant information about the offender’s sentence at that point in time. From then on, you will receive further correspondence when there have been changes to the previously supplied information or the offender’s status. As it is not possible to predict how often this will happen, registered victims are encouraged to contact the Victim Liaison Officer should they have any questions regarding the management of the offender’s sentence.

Confidentiality

Information provided by victims that have requested placement on the ACT Victims Register is treated with the strictest confidence. An offender will not be informed of a victim’s registration.

Registered victims must also treat the information received from ACT Corrective Services confidentially and not disclose it for public dissemination. It is acknowledged, however, that registered victims may need to share the information they receive with family, close friends or other service providers. Registered victims should therefore ensure that any other person to whom the information is disclosed is made aware of the confidential nature of the information.

Young Offenders

A victim of an offence committed by a sentenced young offender may be entitled to register on the Youth Justice Victims Register. This register is maintained by the Office for Children, Youth and Family Support. For more information about the Youth Justice Victims Register, please contact:

The Register Administrator
Youth Justice Policy Team, Youth Directorate
Office for Children, Youth and Family Support
Community Services Directorate

Postal Address: GPO Box 158, Canberra ACT 2601
Telephone: (02) 6207 0443 or (02) 6205 3568
Email: VJVictimsRegister@act.gov.au
Fax: (02) 6205 3386