National's law and order policy was revealed at the party's conference in Wellington. Video / NZ Herald
A victims advocate is welcoming National’s plan to restrict how much judges can discount sentences and increase access to rehabilitation, saying the current system “fails” both victims and offenders.
However, the Government has hit back at National’s suite of law and order policies, with Justice Minister Kiri Allan saying they will likely see prison numbers rise again and cost millions - none of which National has done any modelling for.
Allan also criticised the proposal to limit sentence discounts to 40 per cent as “egregious”, saying that politicians were trying to impinge upon the independence of the judiciary.
National leader Christopher Luxon unveiled the policies at the party’s annual conference on Sunday, where hundreds of party members assembled for what also served as a mass rallying event ahead of what is shaping up to be an incredibly tight election campaign.
Familiar war cries were heard about the rising cost of living and inflation and Labour’s increase in spending and handling of the economy, but it was crime that National appears to have picked as the key election battleground.
Luxon said a “crime wave” was sweeping the country, pointing to increases in reports of violent crime and retail crime - including ram-raids - in particular.
“A National government will ensure the justice system holds offenders accountable through sentences that better reflect the seriousness of a crime, denounce criminal behaviour and show the public that justice is being done,” Luxon said.
“We’ll also give more support to victims, put more focus on prisoners’ rehabilitation and drop the prisoner reduction target.”
National leader Christopher Luxon, flanked by police spokesman Mark Mitchell (left) and justice spokesman Paul Goldsmith, during a media stand-up after their annual conference at the Michael Fowler Centre in Wellington. Photo / Mark Mitchell
New policies include imposing a new 40 per cent limit on the amount by which a judge can reduce a sentence. Currently, judges can apply a range of cumulative discounts, including up to 25 per cent for an early guilty plea and taking into account an offender’s background and upbringing.
“However, New Zealand sets no limits on how much a judge can reduce sentences,” Luxon said.
“That means they often end up far lower than victims and the public expect, and far lower than is required to acknowledge the harm and suffering that’s been caused.”
He referenced a 60 per cent sentence reduction given to a 19-year-old who, carrying a knife, kicked down the front door of a pregnant woman, assaulted her and kidnapped another person.
“The sentencing starting point was eight years and six months, but it was reduced to three years and five months.”
Other policies include scrapping cultural reports for offenders - calling it a “cottage industry” that cost over $6 million last year - redirecting the funding to victim support, and improving access to rehabilitation programmes for prisoners on remand, numbers of which have exploded in recent years, making up nearly half of the prison muster largely due to court delays and backlogs.
Victims advocate Ruth Money. Photo / RNZ
Victims advocate Ruth Money said while judge discretion was important, some discounts had got “way out of control” and did not give justice to victims.
“Some victims I work with have been distraught hearing those sentences. Victims don’t get a voice, it is completely out of balance.”
She also agreed with National’s plan to divert $20m over four years from cultural reports for offenders to supporting victims, including a 29 per cent boost to funding that helps victims access services like counselling or transport to attend court.
Money also said it was important prisoners on remand could access rehabilitation, as currently, 23 per cent of prisoners were spending their entire sentence on remand, during which time they are unable to access most services.
Asked about how these policies could increase incarceration levels, Money said she did not have a problem as long as it was used as a deterrent and properly combined with rehabilitation.
Speaking to reporters, Luxon said they did not know how much the policies would cost nor how many more people could be imprisoned, but accepted they would likely lead to an increase in the prison population in the “short term”.
Any funding shortfall would be accounted for in any future budgets, he said.
Prior to Labour coming into Government in 2017 the prison population had been steadily increasing, becoming among the highest rates of incarceration per capita in the OECD - with Māori imprisoned at a rate six times higher than non-Māori.
Former National Prime Minister Sir Bill English had even accepted the high incarceration rate and prisons as a whole as a “moral and fiscal failure”.
Justice Minister Kiri Allan. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Since Labour has been in Government, the prison population has fallen by over 20 per cent. The incarceration rate as of June last year was 149 people per 100,000 people - down from a peak of 213 in 2018.
This puts New Zealand more in line with comparable countries, including Australia at 165 per 100,000 people and the United Kingdom and Wales at 134 per 100,000 people.
For Māori males, the rate is 1395 per 100,000 people, down from a peak of 1972 in 2010 but still nearly seven times the rate of non-Māori males.
Justice Minister Kiri Allan said it was inconceivable in an election year National would put up such a significant policy without doing any costings.
She said reversing Labour’s 20 per cent decrease in the prison population would cost about another $300 million a year.
“He wants longer terms, sentences. Well, that is gonna cost money.
“We didn’t want to build big maxi prisons here in New Zealand. Because we don’t think that they work.”
Allan said it would undoubtedly see more people imprisoned for longer and would disproportionately impact Māori - an imbalance the Government had been trying to address.
Allan said their focus was on intervening early and prevention, including community support.
She also criticised the proposal to limit sentence discounts to 40 per cent, saying it was “egregious” politicians were trying to impinge upon the judiciary.
Allan said she was satisfied with how the Sentencing Act was operating.
On plans to ensure people on remand could access rehabilitation, Allan said they had just last week introduced a bill to address it.
National also delved into Act Party territory, vowing to restore the “Three Strikes” policy and scrap Government funding for cultural reports – both current policies of their potential coalition partner.
Michael Neilson covers politics for the NZ Herald, based at Parliament in Wellington. He started in journalism at the Gisborne Herald in 2016 before joining the NZ Herald in 2018 – covering social issues, the environment and Māori affairs. He joined the press gallery team in 2021.
