Day v Queensland Community Corrections Board

The applicant, Richard Clifford Day, sought judicial review of the Queensland Community Corrections Board's decision to refuse his parole, home detention, or work release. The Board's decision, made on 15 October 1997, was allegedly improper as it considered that the applicant had not completed a sexual offender's treatment program and based its decision on a comprehensive sentence of 8½ years, comprising a six-year sentence for rape and a 2½-year sentence for various offences of dishonesty. Day argued that he had already been granted a one-third remission of the six-year sentence for rape and that the Board gave undue weight to his failure to complete the treatment program. The applicant sought an order quashing the Board's decision and directing it to reconsider his applications according to law.

The court found that the Board was entitled to consider the applicant's criminal history and the fact that many of his offences were alcohol-related. The Board was also entitled to take into account that the applicant had not adequately addressed his offending behaviour and had not undertaken the Sex Offender Treatment Program. The court held that the Board did not err in considering the applicant's failure to complete the treatment program as a relevant factor in its decision, as he was still serving a comprehensive sentence of 8½ years. The court further found that the remission granted to the applicant did not affect the length of the term of imprisonment to which he was sentenced, and that the Board was entitled to consider the offences for which the term of imprisonment had been imposed. The court concluded that the Board's decision was not affected by the remission, and that the applicant's application for judicial review should be dismissed. The court ordered that the applicant pay the costs of the respondent to be taxed.