Brisbane Criminal Law: Queensland Sentencing Guidelines 2026

If you or someone you know is caught up in the criminal justice system in Brisbane right now, the rules have shifted more in the last two years than in the previous two decades combined. Queensland sentencing guidelines have gone through a genuine overhaul, driven largely by the state government’s “Making Queensland Safer” agenda and a series of amendments that have widened who gets treated as an adult offender, how long people spend behind bars, and what magistrates and judges are legally required to consider before handing down a penalty.

For anyone dealing with Brisbane criminal law, whether as a defendant, a family member, a law student, or a lawyer trying to stay current, understanding these changes isn’t optional anymore. The Penalties and Sentences Act 1992 (Qld) remains the backbone of the system, but it now sits alongside a rapidly expanding list of offences under the Adult Crime, Adult Time scheme, tougher rules for serious violent offences, and ongoing debate about how far these reforms should go.

This article breaks down what’s actually changed, what the courts are required to do under section 9 of the Act, how youth sentencing now works differently, and what factors still matter most when a Brisbane court decides on a penalty. Whether you’re trying to understand a pending charge or just want a clear picture of where Queensland’s criminal justice system stands in 2026, this guide covers the essentials in plain language.

Understanding the Framework: The Penalties and Sentences Act 1992

Every sentence handed down in a Queensland court, from a fine in the Magistrates Court to a lengthy prison term in the Supreme Court, has to trace back to one piece of legislation: the Penalties and Sentences Act 1992 (Qld). This Act sets out the sentencing options available to judges and magistrates, the principles they must apply, and the specific rules that govern things like parole eligibility, suspended sentences, and fines.

It works alongside the Criminal Code Act 1899 (Qld), which defines the offences themselves and sets maximum penalties, and the Youth Justice Act 1992 (Qld), which historically governed how children under 18 were sentenced (more on how that’s changed below). Commonwealth offences, like drug importation or fraud against the Commonwealth, are dealt with separately under the Crimes Act 1914 (Cth).

You can read the full, current text of the Penalties and Sentences Act 1992 on the Queensland Government’s legislation website, which is updated as amendments pass.

Why This Framework Matters for Brisbane Cases

Brisbane courts, from the Magistrates Court on George Street to the Supreme Court, apply this same statewide framework. There’s no separate “Brisbane” sentencing law. What differs from case to case is how the guidelines get applied given the specific facts, the offender’s history, and increasingly, whether the offence falls under one of the newer mandatory or expanded penalty regimes.

The Core Sentencing Guidelines Under Section 9

Section 9 of the Penalties and Sentences Act is where the actual sentencing guidelines live. It’s the section every Queensland court has to turn to before imposing a penalty, and it hasn’t changed in its basic structure for years, even as the offences and penalties around it have.

The Purposes a Sentence Can Serve

Under section 9(1), a court can only impose a sentence for one or more of these purposes:

• To punish the offender in a way that’s just given the circumstances
• To provide conditions the court believes will help the offender rehabilitate
• To deter the offender, or other people, from committing similar offences
• To denounce the type of conduct involved
• To protect the Queensland community from the offender

These purposes overlap constantly in practice. A court sentencing someone for a serious assault, for example, might weigh punishment and deterrence heavily, while also building in a probation order aimed at rehabilitation.

Imprisonment as a Last Resort, With Big Exceptions

For a long time, one of the defining principles of Queensland sentencing was that imprisonment should be a sentence of last resort, particularly for young or first-time offenders. That principle still exists in parts of the Act, but it has been significantly narrowed, especially for offenders under 18 caught by the new Adult Crime, Adult Time laws (covered next). For adult offenders, courts still generally have to consider whether a non-custodial option, like probation, community service, or a fine, would achieve the sentencing purpose before jumping to full-time custody.

Adult Crime, Adult Time: How Youth Sentencing Has Changed

This is arguably the single biggest shift in Queensland sentencing guidelines over the past two years, and it directly affects how Brisbane courts, including the Brisbane Children’s Court, handle young offenders.

The Making Queensland Safer Act 2024 introduced the Adult Crime, Adult Time scheme, which removed the “detention as a last resort” principle for a defined list of serious offences and made young offenders liable for the same maximum penalties as adults. It started with 13 offences, including murder, manslaughter, and offences causing grievous bodily harm. Since then, the list has grown twice.

The 33 Offences Now Captured

Following the second tranche of amendments passed in 2025, and further additions taking effect in 2026, the scheme now covers 33 offences. These include:

1. Murder and attempted murder
2. Manslaughter
3. Rape and attempted rape, plus sexual assault
4. Torture
5. Kidnapping
6. Arson
7. Trafficking in dangerous drugs
8. Aggravated robbery and aggravated attempted robbery
9. Dangerous operation of a vehicle causing death or grievous bodily harm
10. Ramming a police vehicle while driving, or otherwise endangering a police officer

Penalties tied to these offences have also increased. For instance, the maximum penalty for dangerous operation of a vehicle causing death, where the driver was affected by an intoxicating substance, has doubled from 7 to 14 years, and the most serious version of that offence, involving fleeing the scene, now carries up to 20 years with mandatory detention. A young person found guilty of murder now faces a mandatory sentence of life detention with a minimum non-parole period of 20 years, a dramatic change from the previous maximum of 10 years for a child offender.

You can review the full expanded list on the Queensland Government’s Making Queensland Safer page, which sets out each offence and its updated penalty.

What This Means for Young Offenders in Brisbane

For families dealing with a young person charged under one of these 33 offences, the practical effect is stark. The child will be sentenced largely as if they were an adult, with the same maximum penalties and, for some offences, the same mandatory minimums. This is a genuine departure from how Queensland juvenile justice worked for the better part of three decades, and it remains one of the more contested parts of the state’s criminal law reform, with human rights advocates raising ongoing concerns about its compatibility with the Human Rights Act.

Key Sentencing Options Available to Queensland Courts

Outside the mandatory regimes, Brisbane courts still have a genuinely broad toolkit under the Penalties and Sentences Act. Common sentencing options include:

• Absolute or conditional discharge – used for minor offences where the court decides no further punishment is needed
• Fines – calculated using penalty units, which are adjusted periodically
• Probation orders – requiring supervision and compliance with conditions over a set period
• Community service orders – requiring the offender to complete unpaid work
• Intensive correction orders – served in the community but with stricter conditions than probation
• Suspended sentences – a term of imprisonment that doesn’t have to be served unless the offender reoffends during the operational period
• Actual imprisonment – served in a correctional facility, with parole eligibility governed by the Corrective Services Act 2006 (Qld)

Which of these a court chooses depends heavily on the offence category, the offender’s criminal history, and whether any mandatory minimum applies.

Serious Violent Offences and Mandatory Minimums

Certain offences fall under the “serious violent offence” declaration in the Penalties and Sentences Act, which has real teeth. If a court declares an offence a serious violent offence, or if the offender is convicted of one of the specific offences listed as automatically triggering this declaration, they must serve at least 80% of the sentence, or 15 years, whichever is less, before becoming eligible for parole.

This declaration can be made by a court at its discretion for a broad range of violent offences, or it applies automatically for the most serious crimes, like murder. It significantly limits the practical effect of a headline sentence, since two offenders given the same number of years could serve very different amounts of actual time depending on whether this declaration applies.

Factors Brisbane Courts Weigh When Sentencing

Even within the sentencing guidelines, courts have discretion, and section 9 sets out a long list of matters a court must have regard to. In practice, when a Brisbane court is sentencing someone, it will typically weigh:

• The maximum and any minimum penalty prescribed for the offence
• The nature of the offence and how it was carried out
• The extent of harm caused to any victim, and any victim impact statement
• Any prior criminal history, or lack of one
• Whether the offender pleaded guilty, and how early
• Any cooperation with authorities
• The offender’s age, background, and personal circumstances
• Prospects of rehabilitation
• Time already spent in custody on remand
• Any relevant mitigating or aggravating factors specific to the case

A guilty plea, particularly an early one, is generally treated as a significant mitigating factor because it saves the court and any witnesses from a trial, and it’s often read as a sign of remorse.

The Role of the Sentencing Advisory Council

Queensland has its own independent Sentencing Advisory Council, which was established to provide research, data, and community input into sentencing policy. The Council doesn’t hand down sentences itself, but it produces detailed reports on sentencing trends, reviews specific offence categories, and advises the Attorney-General on reform options.

If you want a deeper, non-partisan look at how sentencing actually plays out across the state, the Sentencing Advisory Council Queensland publishes accessible explainers and statistical reports that go well beyond what’s covered in news coverage of individual cases.

What This Means If You’re Facing Charges in Brisbane

If you or a family member has a matter before a Brisbane court, a few practical points are worth keeping in mind:

1. Check whether the offence falls under Adult Crime, Adult Time. If the person is under 18 and the charge is on the expanded list, the usual protections around detention as a last resort won’t apply.
2. Ask about serious violent offence declarations early. These affect parole eligibility dramatically and should factor into any advice about pleading guilty or contesting a charge.
3. Get advice on timing a guilty plea. Given how much weight courts place on early pleas, delaying a decision can genuinely cost an offender a more favourable outcome.
4. Don’t assume old penalty ranges still apply. Several offences have had their maximum penalties doubled or otherwise increased in the last 18 months, so relying on outdated information can be seriously misleading.
5. Get a lawyer who’s across the 2025 and 2026 amendments specifically. Given how quickly this area has moved, even experienced criminal lawyers need to check the current version of the Act rather than relying on memory.

Recent and Ongoing Reforms to Watch in 2026

Reform in this space hasn’t slowed down. Beyond the Adult Crime, Adult Time expansions, the Queensland Government has continued to extend electronic monitoring trials for young people on bail, with the current trial period running until 30 April 2026, and legislation has been introduced to make electronic monitoring a permanent bail condition option in a wider range of circumstances. There’s also continued debate in Queensland about how these changes interact with the state’s Human Rights Act, since several of the reforms have been passed using an override declaration.

For anyone following Brisbane criminal law closely, the practical takeaway is that this is not a settled area. Further amendments are likely, particularly around drug trafficking offences and vehicle-related crimes, given the political priority the current government has placed on youth crime.

Conclusion

Queensland’s sentencing landscape has changed more substantially in the past two years than in a long time before it, and Brisbane courts are applying these new rules daily. The Penalties and Sentences Act 1992 still provides the underlying structure, with section 9’s purposes of punishment, rehabilitation, deterrence, denunciation, and community protection guiding every decision, but the Adult Crime, Adult Time scheme, expanded serious violent offence provisions, and increased maximum penalties for a growing list of crimes mean that outcomes today can look very different from what they would have five years ago.

Anyone navigating a criminal charge in Brisbane, or simply trying to understand how the system works, needs to be looking at current law rather than assumptions based on how things used to be, and getting advice from someone who is actively tracking these reforms is the safest way to do that.