They include retired judges, law enforcement officers, defence lawyers, indigenous community members and persons associated with victims of crime.
The United States Sentencing Commission in the United States of America and the Sentencing Council in England and Wales are examples of bodies which consist primarily of judicial members, giving those bodies a judicial flavour.
In contrast, the Sentencing Commission for Scotland is made up of parliamentarians, giving it a political flavour.
Over a fifteen-year period, the commissioners reported upon many issues and problems concerning punishment and sentencing in criminal matters.
[3] In 1980, the Australian Law Reform Commission proposed the establishment of a national council to deal with federal offenders.
In 2006, the commission reversed its view on the establishment of a national council and advocated that the existing federal institutions were adequate to provide advice and research.
Primarily this was based on the view that the proposed council would duplicate and overlap existing bodies which provided crime statistics and law reform advice to the Australian Government.