Judith Collins: Less power to the offender, more to the victim

Judith Collins. Photo / Mark Mitchell

I have received a letter from a very courageous woman. Leigh Woodman is a victim of crime. In 1997 her beautiful 15-year-old daughter Vanessa was murdered in a brutal attack by a man named Nicholas Hawker.

Leigh described what happened.

"He cut her throat, strangled her with such force that had he not gone on to stab her 32 times, she would never have been able to speak again as he also destroyed her voice box. He then sexually assaulted her.

"Vanessa never knew this man and never stood a chance against such violence; she was not quite five feet tall and weighed no more than a sack of potatoes."

Leigh, who was happy for me to use her comments in this article, says the foundation of her family's lives was torn apart on that day and she has never known true peace and happiness again.

Leigh, her husband and Vanessa's sister and two brothers have lived with the crime every day of their lives since.

Hawker was found guilty of murder and sentenced to mandatory life imprisonment.

"At the time," says Leigh, "I thought, 'Thank goodness he will never have the opportunity to hurt another child again'.

But then she found out that mandatory life imprisonment meant he was eligible for parole after 10 years, and back in 1997 non-parole periods were very rarely imposed.

Since February 2007, the family has been before the Parole Board four times to make oral submissions in order to keep Hawker in prison.

They also attended the High Court when Hawker appealed the Parole Board decision to postpone his eligibility to apply for parole for two years.

Leigh explains that the family did this not because they wanted vengeance, but because they believed Hawker would re-offend. "If I can do anything to save just one life," Leigh says, "it will be worth all the pressure and stress this imposes."

My heart goes out to Leigh and her family. They have endured what no family should ever have to endure, and have shown incredible courage. Sadly, they are not alone.

Throughout New Zealand are many families just like them, whose lives have been torn apart by random acts of violence. For many of these families, the crime is just the beginning of a process that leaves them feeling justice has not been served.

Time and again, victims of crime have told me they feel let down by a system that seems to put greater emphasis on the rights of offenders than victims.

People expect safe communities, where they can walk the streets without the threat of violence or intimidation, where they can sleep at night knowing their families are safe in their homes, where there is respect for property, people and the law.

These things are among the most fundamental obligations of any government. I believe we need to revisit the basic principles of punishment and reform.

In this country we have many people who have made a thriving industry out of making excuses for criminals.

In the past decade these people have overwhelmed the debate on law and order with their views on the rights of offenders.

By making excuses for criminals, these people send a very strong signal that crime is acceptable in our communities, that it is an accepted fact of life.

One thing I do not understand is how you can tell someone whose life has been torn apart by crime that it is acceptable.

Recently, a senior judge told me that he believed there was "far too much emphasis on victims in our courts at the moment".

It's this acceptance that every crime is solely a crime against the state rather than the individual that I believe is at the heart of the situation we now find ourselves in.

Justice and punishment must be impersonal, but that does not mean it should be blind to the human impact of crime and the human need for redress.

For every crime there are victims like Leigh and her family, and for justice to be truly done it must strive to bring peace and closure to those victims. I believe it is time to reclaim a few basic ideas of what justice is and what it is supposed to do.

The public expects the system - first and foremost - to punish those who have broken the law. Punishment for serious crime in the majority of cases should be harsh, because anything less fails to acknowledge that victims of crime are never truly released from their sentences.

I don't believe prison should be enjoyable. Prison should be an unpleasant experience so offenders do not want to return.

The justice system's sole focus should not be on punishment. It is very important to give people the opportunity to turn their lives around.

But pressure from those who advocate for the rights of criminals has resulted in too much focus on rehabilitating the prisoners who are least likely to be rehabilitated.

We should accept that some offenders will never be rehabilitated, and divert resources to those who could benefit from it.

The Government has announced a three-strikes policy that will escalate the severity of sentences.

First-time serious offenders will get the chance to mend their ways, but those who don't heed the warnings will serve out maximum sentences without parole on their third strike.

The policy will deter criminals from committing further crimes, keep the worst offenders behind bars for longer and bring certainty to sentencing of the most hardened offenders. News of the policy prompted Leigh Woodman to write to me.

She believes it will "save innocent lives and in turn, put fewer families through the horror, trauma and agonising anguish we and many other families live with every day of our lives as it never goes away.

"It will help make a safer place for decent law-abiding New Zealanders and will ensure repeat offenders are held to account."

* Judith Collins is Minister of Police and Minister of Corrections.