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Ministry of Home Affairs
Press Releases

New sentencing regimes to better protect the public from serious violent and sexual offenders or repeat offenders under the Criminal Procedure (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act 2024

28 July 2026

1. The Criminal Procedure (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act 2024[1] (“Act”) was passed in Parliament on 5 February 2024 and has been operationalised in phases.[2] In the final phase, the Ministry of Law and the Ministry of Home Affairs will commence the new Sentence for Enhanced Public Protection (“SEPP”) and Sentence for Public Protection (“SPP”) regimes on 31 July 2026.

a. The SEPP is intended to better protect the public from offenders who commit serious violent or sexual offences with a substantial risk of re-offending. SEPP allows such offenders to be detained for as long as is needed for public safety, while ensuring safeguards such as expert risk assessments and regular reviews of the offender’s suitability for release.

b. The SPP will replace the existing Corrective Training (“CT”) and Preventive Detention (“PD”) regimes, and is aimed at recalcitrant offenders.

2. These amendments will apply to offences committed on or after 31 July 2026.


SEPP

3. SEPP deals with offenders who pose a substantial risk of re-offending and have committed serious violent or sexual offences, such as culpable homicide, rape and sexual penetration of minors. An offender will be detained for a minimum term of between five and 20 years (as determined by the court). At the end of the minimum term, the offender will only be released if assessed by the Minister for Home Affairs to no longer pose a threat to the public. This is unlike a sentence of imprisonment or CT/PD where the offender must be released after serving the fixed term imposed by the court.

(a) If assessed to remain a threat to the public, he or she will not be released at that point. The offender’s suitability for release will continue to be reviewed regularly, and detention may continue for as long as necessary for public protection, up to life.

(b) If assessed to no longer be a threat to the public, the offender will be released on licence and subject to certain conditions. The offender may be unconditionally discharged thereafter, if appropriate.

4. Given its serious consequences, SEPP is deliberately limited to offenders, aged 21 or above at the time of the offence. The use of SEPP must be justified to the court, which must be satisfied that SEPP is in the interests of the protection of the public before it is imposed.


Safeguards for SEPP

5. Because of the serious nature of the SEPP, the following safeguards will be put in place:

(a) At sentencing, the court will decide whether SEPP is appropriate, generally after considering risk assessment reports by the Institute of Mental Health, and, where submitted, reports by other experts.

(b) There will be regular reviews to assess the offender’s suitability for release:

(i) An updated risk assessment will be conducted by a psychiatrist before the end of the minimum term.

(ii) A Release on Licence Review Board comprising retired judges, lawyers, psychiatrists and psychologists will review the offender’s conduct and progress, including the updated risk assessment and any representations that the offender or his/her lawyer made to the Board.

(iii) The Board will make recommendations to the Minister for Home Affairs who will decide if the offender should be released on licence or detained further.

(iv) If the Minister assesses that the offender should not be released, the Minister must review his or her suitability for release annually until he or she is released.

(c) Once released on licence, there will also be regular reviews to consider whether the offender should be unconditionally released and the sentence brought to an end.


SPP

6. The SPP is aimed at recalcitrant offenders, and replaces the existing sentences of CT/PD.

7. The court may impose SPP for a fixed term of between five and 20 years. An offender may be released on licence after serving two-thirds of the sentence. Unlike the SEPP, he or she must be released after serving the fixed term of the sentence.

8. Further details of the SEPP and SPP can be found in the Annex.


Ministry of Law
Ministry of Home Affairs

Annex:

1. Details of the SEPP and SPP regimes [PDF, 128.55 KB]

[1] The Act advances our criminal justice system and contains various amendments aimed at (i) protecting the public by strengthening our levers to tackle crime, including serious sexual crime, and (ii) enhancing transparency, fairness and coherence in our criminal court processes.

[2] For more information on the amendments that have already come into force, please see Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3 and Phase 4.

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