Last updated 23 September 2024

An offender convicted of more than one offence is sentenced separately for each offence. The court may order that the sentences be served at the same time (concurrently) or one after the other (cumulatively). In most instances, sentences are ordered to be served concurrently (s 155 Penalties and Sentences Act 1992 (Qld) (Penalties and Sentences Act)). This means that the total length of time served is equal to the length of the longest of the sentences imposed.

In some instances, the court must order that sentences be served cumulatively, for example when an offender has committed a serious violent offence listed in sch 1 of the Penalties and Sentences Act and the offence was committed while the offender was already serving a term of imprisonment, on parole, on leave of absence from prison or at large after escaping from custody (s 156A Penalties and Sentences Act).