In Victoria, victims of crime have a number of different options to seek compensation, including making an application for an order for restitution or an order for compensation under Part 4, Divisions 1 and 2 of the Sentencing Act 1991 (Vic).

In 2016, the Victorian Law Reform Commission (VLRC) released the report The Role of Victims of Crime in the Criminal Trial Process, which recommended that the Sentencing Advisory Council review whether restitution and compensation orders under the Sentencing Act 1991 (Vic) should become sentencing orders (Recommendation 49).

In June 2017, the Attorney-General requested advice from the Council on this issue in the form of terms of reference, and this report constitutes the Council’s response to that request

Whether restitution and compensation orders should become sentencing orders has been considered at least twice before, once by the Victorian Parliament’s Law Reform Committee in 1994 and more recently by the then Department of Justice in 2009. Neither review reached a firm conclusion on this issue.