Subj : Three Strikes: PM predicts number of offenders to be jailed
To   : All
From : News
Date : Tue Apr 23 2024 12:46 pm

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has revealed the Government expects the
newly revised Three Strikes legislation announced yesterday will affect "up
to 90" offenders over the next 10 years.


It's expected the draft bill will go before Cabinet in June.


A similar "Three Strikes" law was brought in under the previous National
government, but was scrapped under the last Labour government. It aimed to
deter criminals with the threat of progressively severe punishments for
repeat offenders.


A person convicted of a third qualifying offence automatically received the
maximum penalty without parole, barring some exceptions - where a court
determined it would be "manifestly unjust".


Luxon told Breakfast this morning that he disagreed "completely" with
suggestions the move wasn't based on evidence.


"For serious violent and sexual offenders, we're putting back the Three
Strikes provisions," he said. "There's some tweaks and changes, some things
that we learnt from the last time round.


"Even if it, frankly, stops one person, one offender from causing so much
harm to a victim, that's a good thing."


Later, he added: "We think it could be up to 90 people over 10 years that are
impacted by this.


"That's a good thing, that's 90 people off our streets [who are] causing that
harm and suffering."


Pressed for the evidence behind the policy, Luxon said: "Go sit down with
someone who's actually been traumatised by someone who's undertaken serious
violent or sexual crime on them."

The new law will be "really targeted", he also said, adding an increase in
crime rates after the previous Labour government revoked the Three Strikes
law - "as well as a lot of other things" - is evidence in itself.


An information page about the repeal of the Three Strikes legislation on the
Justice Ministry's website was active yesterday morning but was removed
shortly before the Government's announcement.


Access to the archived page showed it laid out concerns about the previous
law, including that "there was little evidence that the law had reduced
serious offending".


Luxon emphasised that the plan is part of a broader suite of crime and
justice measures.


He said: "I want to see a lot less violent crime, heinous crime being
committed in New Zealand.


"Go out and talk to the people who are the victims, we're on the side of the
victims here."


The Government's plan
The new Three Strikes law would cover the same 40 serious violent and sexual
offences as the previous legislation, but also add a new strangulation and
suffocation offence. It would also include a requirement that it only apply
to sentences above 24 months.


It would also extend the use of the "manifestly unjust" exception, aimed at
allowing some judicial discretion to avoid very harsh outcomes and address
outlier cases.


There would be a provision for a limited benefit for guilty pleas, aimed at
avoiding the re-traumatisation of victims and improving court delays. The new
legislation would also seek to ensure people who committed murder at second
or third strike received an "appropriately lengthy non-parole period".


The Opposition's response
Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said the Government was bringing back
the law "just to look tough".


"This is political posturing of the worst kind," he said. "There was almost
no evidence to show it deters offending, and instead it resulted in severe
distortions in sentencing third strike offenders."


He said one case involved a person getting a seven-year sentence for "patting
a prison guard's bottom".


Webb said repeat offending was already an aggravating factor and judges could
already impose hard sentences where appropriate.


"All this law does is continue the Government's attack on the judiciary by
removing sentencing discretion from the courts."


Criminal Bar Association's view
A statement from New Zealand's Criminal Bar Association - an advocacy group
for lawyers and their clients - opposed the plan.


"We repeat our call for criminal justice policy to be based on evidence,
something the Three Strikes regime neglects to recognise - with no evidence
that it either reduces crime or assists with rehabilitation," the group said
in a statement.


The association said New Zealand's judiciary was already tough on crime, New
Zealand already had preventative detention as an effective deterrent, and
judges "should be free to pass the appropriate sentence without interference
from politicians".


The group also said the Government's plan was based on "arbitrary rules" that
didn't properly consider issues such as addiction - and prisoners couldn't
access rehabilitation programmes until they were eligible for parole, the
statement added.

"Offenders often need help, not punishment," the association said.


The Criminal Bar Association also noted that the cost of housing a prisoner
was $193,000 a year.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A44 2020/02/04 (Windows/64)
 * Origin: S.W.A.T.S BBS Telnet swatsbbs.ddns.net:2323 (63:10/102)

.