Guide for judges to cut jail numbers

The Government will tomorrow reveal plans for a sentencing council to guide judges on how to punish offenders.

The move is partly aimed at reversing the rapidly growing prison population.

Such councils are used overseas to improve consistency of sentences and their effectiveness and to broaden public knowledge of the system.

An oft-stated Government concern about "sentencing creep", where judges are issuing tougher sentences for less serious crimes than before, also appears to be behind the plan.

National Party justice spokesman Richard Worth said a sentencing council would be "a significant intervention into an area where the Executive has not trespassed before".

Depending on its structure, it could subject judges to greater and unwanted political direction over their discretionary sentencing powers.

It would be "absolutely inappropriate" if the reason was to save money being spent on prisons, he said.

The Government has previously said it was considering the council, which will be one of a number of initiatives unveiled tomorrow as part of an "effective interventions" strategy aimed at both reducing crime and the burgeoning prison population.

It is likely to include greater options for community-based sentences for less serious offences, including advocating more widespread use of home detention and restorative justice.

An increased focus on tackling youth crime and recidivism, in at least some cases by extending the use of existing programmes, will be included.

Not expected to be in the package are plans for what are called open or resettlement prisons, suggested as an option by Corrections Minister Damien O'Connor this year.

Such prisons are designed to enable inmates to work in the community during the day, but are likely to be considered too controversial at this stage of the politically sensitive reform process being driven by the unexpected surge in the prison population and associated costs.

The Government yesterday remained silent on the "effective interventions" package - the focus of intensive research by a range of Government departments for well over a year - expected to be released by Prime Minister Helen Clark.

But the Herald understands the go-ahead will be given to a sentencing council. Justice Minister Mark Burton explicitly linked the notion of a council to the need to control prison growth in a speech in May.

"Through the Sentencing Act 2002, the Government has spelled out its intention in regard to the most serious offenders. These offenders must not be allowed to impact on community safety. The question is where we should draw the line for other categories of offences? One possible approach is to provide judges with clear sentencing guidelines."

He said he had asked the Law Commission to examine overseas initiatives.

The deputy president of the commission, Warren Young, told a select committee in June that the proposals put forward to the Government would involve a council with judicial and non-judicial members.

Judges would be appointed by the Chief Justice or chief judge of the lower courts and the non-judicial appointments made by the Governor-General on the Government's advice.

The council would be based on the British model, although in Britain guidelines were added incrementally and the plan here was envisaged to begin with a more comprehensive set, Dr Young said.

A Sentencing Guidelines Council operated in Britain and Wales and in several Australian states.

Dr Worth said the extent of the impact on judges' autonomy would not be clear until details were released.

But the council could "significantly influence the prison muster and manage the fiscal consequences of keeping people in prison".

This would, however, be the wrong reason to set up such a body. "The sentence should match the gravity of the offence... It should not be a reflection of the cost of containment."