Aotearoa New Zealand needs revamped legislation to manage
high-risk offenders safely and more humanely, concludes Te
Aka Matua o te Ture | Law Commission in its report Here
ora: Preventive measures in a reformed law
published today.
The Commission makes 149 reform
recommendations to the Government. They include a new Act to
replace the current law governing preventive detention,
extended supervision orders and public protection
orders.
The current law aims to prevent high-risk
offenders from committing further sexual and violent crimes
after they have completed a punitive prison sentence. It
enables ongoing imprisonment or supervision, potentially for
life.
New Zealand courts and international bodies have
criticised the current law. They have found that indefinite
detention with limited rights to rehabilitation is
unnecessarily punitive and inconsistent with human
rights.
The Commission is also concerned that the
current patchwork of legislation is neither cohesive nor
comprehensive and could undermine community
safety.
Amokura Kawharu, President of the Law
Commission, says:
“Good law in this important area
should recognise that preventing high-risk people from
reoffending and meeting their needs are not mutually
exclusive.
“We recommend changes to ensure people
who jeopardise community safety can be restrained when
necessary. However, a central purpose of the law should
always be to restore these people, where possible, to safe
and unrestricted life in the community.
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“The best
way to do this, in our view, is to relocate the legislation
away from the sentencing and parole context.
“We
recommend a new Act that better identifies those most at
risk of serious reoffending. It should enable supervision
and detention to keep the community safe, but people subject
to these restrictions should receive the treatment and
support they need to be safe and functioning members of the
community.”
The Commission’s key
recommendations include the following:
- A new Act
should provide a range of restrictions suited to the
different levels of risk posed by individuals. They include
supervised life in the community, supported and monitored
residential life in community-based facilities, and
detention in secure facilities.- Preventive detention
— a sentence under the current law enabling the indefinite
imprisonment of offenders — should be
abolished.- Any person who is detained to prevent
them from reoffending should be detained in conditions that
are distinct from the conditions of punitive prison
sentences.- New legislation should provide greater
entitlements to rehabilitative treatment and reintegration
support.- Eligibility should be based on conviction
for one of a range of serious sexual and violent offences
that indicate risks of reoffending.- New legislation
should continue and strengthen the option under the current
law to place people within the care of an iwi, hapū, marae
or whānau.
In developing its
recommendations, the Commission engaged and consulted with
members of the public, interested organisations, relevant
government agencies, the legal profession and the judiciary,
as well as with academic experts.
The Government will
now consider the Commission’s recommendations and decide
whether to reform the
law.
