Longer jail time for NSW criminals: Upton

The NSW government is beefing up laws to make sure the state's most dangerous criminals are kept behind bars for longer.

At the moment, only a small group of high-risk offenders such as convicted rapists are subject to post-sentence preventative detention or extended supervision orders.

Changes to the Crimes (High Risk Offenders) Act 2006 introduced to parliament on Wednesday will address such limitations in the law, Attorney-General Gabrielle Upton says.

Continuing Detention Orders (CDO) or Extended Supervision Orders (ESO) would now apply to prisoners who committed murder in the course of committing another serious crime, manslaughter by an unlawful or dangerous act or wounding with intent to cause death or grievous bodily harm.

"These changes to the law will help keep our community safe and reduce re-offending by encouraging prisoners to rehabilitate as part of their sentence," Ms Upton said in a statement on Wednesday.

In order to impose a CDO or ESO, the Supreme Court must be satisfied the offender poses an unacceptable risk of committing a serious violence crime if released from prison without supervision at the end of their sentence, she said.