No Body, No Parole

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The recent highly publicised Supreme Court murder trial of Chris Dawson relating to the disappearance of Lynette Dawson in 1982 has brought New South Wales parole laws into the spotlight.

In September 2022, the New South Wales government announced they will introduce new “no body, no parole” legislation into parliament proposing that offenders must cooperate with investigators and disclose the location of victims' remains to have any chance of being released on parole. 

This will align with the current legislation in Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria, and Northern Territory which all state that offenders can be refused parole if they do not reveal the location of a victim’s remains. The proposed reforms will apply to all current and future inmates in New South Wales which will capture previously convicted offenders who have not yet been considered for parole.

The current legislation section 135(3)(e) of Crimes (Administration of Sentences) Act 1999 https://legislation.nsw.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/act-1999-093#sec.135 currently list a failure to disclose the location of the remains of a victim as a factor to be taken into account when an individual is being considered for parole. NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet has clarified that the proposed position will have a far stricter imposition “We will make it impossible for offenders who wilfully and deliberately refuse to disclose information about their victim’s remains, to be granted parole”.

The new proposed reforms are certainly well intended and will hopefully reduce the pain and suffering to families of victims however, they also have the possibility of creating an inexcusable consequence for anyone who finds themselves wrongly convicted within our judicial system.