Provocation in sentencing (second edition)

• Arie Freiberg, Felicity Stewart
• Sentencing Advisory Council

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06 November 2009First published in February 2008, the research paper was written in response to the abolition of provocation as a partial defence to murder following the Victorian Law Reform Commission's review of defences to homicide. The Commission recommended that, rather than raising a partial defence to murder, provocation should simply be taken into account in the sentencing process along with the other relevant circumstances of an offence. However, the Commission left open the question of what approach sentencing courts should take in assessing provocation that is raised in mitigation of sentence under the new law.

The research paper analyses how provocation might be considered in sentencing fatal and non-fatal offences against the person. The paper suggests a new approach to considering provocation as a mitigating factor in sentencing (summarised in Chapter 10).

As demand for the research paper remains high, the Sentencing Advisory Council has decided to reprint it. The second edition has a number of additional features including a comprehensive legal index and an enlarged, back-page fold-out version of the key graph in the paper.