It has been 24 years since the publication of the second edition of Sentencing in Tasmania. For more than a decade, judicial officers and legal practitioners have been pressing for a new edition of what has been called ‘the bible’ – an indicator of the value placed on a source that conveniently synthesises sentencing law and practice. In the intervening years, 30 new indictable offences have been created, many new sentencing orders introduced and important changes to the Sentencing Act in relation to aggravating and mitigating factors have been enacted. The High Court has handed down significant decisions in relation to sentencing method and the use of sentencing statistics. Bearing this in mind, this new edition has retained the chapters on specific offences and supplemented the statistical tables with text which seeks to synthesise the many Court of Criminal Appeal sentencing decisions with the published sentencing comments of the Supreme Court.

The basic structure of the second edition has been retained with some changes. Aggravating and mitigating factors have been given separate treatment in separate chapters and sex offences have been given their own chapter, to do justice to the increase in sentencing jurisprudence in relation to these offences. Summary offences still have their own chapter and previously unpublished data on sentencing ranges is published with commentary relying upon lower court sentencing appeals. While the work is focused on Tasmania, its careful consideration of significant developments in Australian case law together with detailed chapters on topics such as general sentencing principles, aggravating factors, and mitigating factors mean it will be a valuable resource for practitioners in all Australian jurisdictions.