Venu Menon
Wellington, July 26,2024
The Law Commission, an independent crown entity, is reviewing the laws relating to the supervision and detention of high-risk convicted criminals to align them with international human rights law under a single statute.
Currently, those laws are spread across three Acts, which include preventive detention under the Sentencing Act 2002, extended supervision orders (ESOs) under the Parole Act 2002, and public protection orders (PPOs) under the Public Safety (Public Protection Orders) Act 2014.
The present laws allow for the indefinite detention and supervision of offenders convicted of serious violent and sexual crimes. Their release from prison is decided by the New Zealand Parole Board, if the Board is “satisfied that the person will not pose an undue risk to the safety of the community.”
At present, a person sentenced to preventive detention cannot be considered for parole until the end of a minimum period of imprisonment stipulated by the sentencing court, which must be no less than five years, the Commission notes.
The Commission’s proposed reform measures, announced on July 25, place a greater focus on the rehabilitation and reintegration of prisoners convicted of violent and sexual crimes, who pose a high risk of re-offending, while ensuring the safety of the community.
John-Luke Day, the Commission’s principal advisor, wants high-risk offenders to be treated more humanely. Languishing in prison indefinitely is disproportionately punitive, he argues.
“Containing and incapacitating dangerous individuals” is not a prerequisite for keeping the public safe, he notes.
The Commission earmarks a role for the community during the sentencing of Maori offenders.
It also proposes the creation of a review panel to assess individual cases every three years.
The Commission’s post-sentence measures for serious offenders include community preventive supervision where the offender lives within the community under certain conditions; residential preventive supervision where the offender would stay in a special facility with minimal security; and secure preventive detention in a secure facility.
The big departure in these proposals is removing the offender from the prison environment.
The Commission wants the reform measures to be compliant with the Bill of Rights Act and ensure they “impair rights to the least extent possible while also providing an overall response to addressing risks to community safety.”
The current review has been prompted by a request from the government in 2022 to reassess the existing laws around preventive detention and post-sentence orders after the United Nations found them to be in breach of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights.
The Court of Appeal in New Zealand has also held that Extended Supervision Orders (ESOs) and Public Protection Orders (PPOs) violate the human rights of prisoners by “punishing them twice for the same crime.”
The Law Commission’s recommendations are not binding on the government.
Public submissions on the Commission’s proposed law reform are open till 20 September 2024.
Venu Menon is an Indian Newslink reporter based in Wellington
