Venu Menon
Wellington, July 25,2023
Minister of Justice Ginny Andersen informed the House today that, while the government had not made any changes to Section 27 of the Sentencing Act 2002, she was seeking advice on whether changes to the system “may well be needed.”
The minister, who took charge of the portfolio after her predecessor Kiri Allan stepped down, was responding to queries from Nicole McKee of the ACT Party relating to Section 27 of the Sentencing Act 2002. The minister acknowledged that Section 27 “allows an offender the right to request a report on their personal, family, and even community circumstances, and how it may have related to their offending.”
She said the report could “possibly include family history and mental health.”
The minister said it was true that Section 27 reports were being more frequently used by the defence, “as the legal profession’s awareness of them grows.”
“Given the increased use, I’m expecting, and have requested, further advice in the coming weeks to understand whether changes to the system may well be needed.”
To a pointed question from ACT’s McKee if the minister would adopt ACT’s policy to repeal Section 27 of the Sentencing Act 2002, “which allows criminals to get shorter sentences by requesting cultural background reports,” Andersen replied in the negative.
McKee drew attention to the case of a victim of sexual assault, who continued to receive threats from her offender, and who “watched as the judge presiding over his case noted his lack of cultural identity before sentencing him to 12 months’ home detention.”
While declaring the victim’s case as “a completely unacceptable circumstance for any person to be subjected to,” Minister Andersen said she was keen to get a fuller understanding of whether the use of Section 27 reports “remains fit for purpose, and I am not ruling out further changes at this point in time.”
The minister added that she was proud of the Labour Government’s track record on supporting victims.
“Since National left office, our government has tripled the funding for the Victims Assistance Scheme, and doubled the funding to Victim Support,” she noted, adding, “We passed the Sexual Violence Legislation Act, established Te Aorerekura, and will introduce a bill to give greater protections and rights to victims of family and sexual violence.”
The minister informed members that the government was establishing three new pilots in the courts to improve victim safety, to ensure they were heard at bail decisions and to strengthen the support for child victims of sexual violence.
“My focus is a justice system where victims feel safe, heard, and empowered,” the minister said.
On tackling organised crime, she applauded Operation Cobalt, which targeted gangs and organised crime. As of 6 July 2023, police had entered 43,460 charges and had issued a further 55,988 traffic-related infringement offence notices. These charges were supported by 1,235 search warrants conducted and 731 warrantless searches as part of Operation Cobalt, the minister informed the House.
Police had also seized 449 firearms as part of this operation, which was on top of the 1,804 firearms seized as part of Operation Tauwhiro, the minister added.
“These charges demonstrate police’s absolute commitment to tackling organised crime and that this government is backing police to keep our communities safe and to hold offenders to account,” Minister of Justice Ginny Andersen summed up.
Venu Menon is an Indian Newslink reporter based in Wellington
