High Risk Offenders Kept Under Close Watch

The NSW Government has succeeded in almost nine out of ten applications to keep the State’s most dangerous criminals behind bars, or under supervision, after their sentence has expired, new figures show. 

Attorney General Mark Speakman said community safety was at the forefront of applications before the Supreme Court for continuing detention orders or extended supervision orders for terror, violence or sex-related offenders. 

“Since the expansion of the High Risk Offenders (HRO) scheme in 2013 to include both serious sex and violence offenders, the Supreme Court has upheld 136 applications to keep the most dangerous offenders in NSW in custody or placed on strict supervision orders. This represents a success rate of 89.5 per cent,” Mr Speakman said. 

“We’ve also toughened the Terrorism High Risk Offenders Act so that inmates advocating support for terrorist acts or violent extremism while in custody can also be subject to post-sentence detention or supervision.” 

Minister for Counter Terrorism and Corrections Anthony Roberts said there were currently 53 offenders on Extended Supervision Orders (ESO) in the community, managed by a dedicated team of Corrective Services NSW and NSW Police officers. 

“The ESO team keeps a very close eye on these people, providing monitoring and supervision 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” Mr Roberts said. 

“There is also a multi-agency case management team of CSNSW and NSW Police officers, lawyers, psychologists, intelligence and electronic monitoring staff, who can provide an immediate response to any escalated risks of reoffending.” 

Corrective Services NSW Commissioner Peter Severin said offenders on ESO were under the highest level of supervision in the community. 

“These 53 offenders are subject to conditions including electronic monitoring, containment of their movements, regular visits by the ESO team and covert monitoring,” Mr Severin said. 

Number of offenders presently subject to HRO orders