Offences under the Cannabis Expiation Notice schemein South Australia

Abstract

Since the introduction of the Cannabis Expiation Notice (CEN) schemein South Australia in April 1987, the number of minor cannabis offences for which CENs have been issued has increased from 6231 expiable offences in the 1987/88 financial year to a peakof over 18000 offences in 1996/97. This 'net-widening' appears unrelated to prevalence of cannabis use. The rate of expiation of issued CENs has remained below 50%. Of those CENs that are not expiated, the vast majority was forwarded for prosecution and result in a conviction for the offender. Overall, around 46% of total CENs issued between 1991/92 and 1995/96 resulted in a conviction, or around 90% of all CENs forwarded for prosecution. This net-widening and the low rate of expiation may have resulted in more convictions than would have occurred had the system not been introduced. The low expiation rate may relate to difficulties faced by offenders in paying expiation fees. Changes to the payment options for expiation offences in the last few years have l...