Hundreds of protesters took to Mount Maunganui's main street calling for the law to change. Photo / Andrew Warner
Hundreds of protesters took to Mount Maunganui's main street calling for the law to change. Photo / Andrew Warner
Hundreds recently took to the streets to protest the sentencing of a teenage rapist who was given nine months of home detention.
Placards on display questioned why the justice system fails victims and how a rapist like Jayden Meyer could end up with such a light sentence.
This concern was also reflected in tens of thousands of social media posts calling for changes to our justice system.
Dr Alice Mills, a senior lecturer in criminology at Auckland University, tells the Front Page podcast it's imperative to acknowledge the experiences of the victims and the trauma they suffered in pushing their cases through the criminal justice system.
"Particularly in cases of sexual violence, but in many other cases as well, taking the matter through the criminal justice system can be re-traumatising for the victims," explains Mills.
Asked how common a sentence of home detention is in such cases, Mills says that around 20 per cent of perpetrators of sexual assault are given this sentence.
"We have to be a little careful about that figure of just over 20 per cent, because we don't know about the seriousness of those cases and the level of offending involved in those particular instances."
Most sexual assault offenders, says Mills, are given prison sentences.
So, why is it then that the Crown prosecutor and defence supported the sentence of home detention in the Meyer case?
"The Crown prosecutor suggested that they supported the sentence of home detention to protect the community on a long-term basis," says Mills.
"The suggestion is that this was done for rehabilitative purposes, but there's still quite a lot we don't know about the personal circumstances of the offender. There may be something the judge is taking into account that we are not aware of. It's also quite interesting that they met a psychologist 30 times. That strikes me as quite high, so there may be some reasoning behind that too, which may have affected this."
The issue of rehabilitation is particularly important when it comes to younger offenders, but the debate is growing about whether victims are given enough consideration in the justice system.
"When we look at that balance [in the system], we need to consider what justice actually means to victims," says Mills.
Mills says that concepts of justice extend well beyond retribution and punishment.
"We know from research both overseas and in Aotearoa, that the perceptions of justice can vary quite substantially, particularly among victims of sexual violence. Many, in fact, choose not to go through the criminal justice system because it can be so traumatising."
Mills explains that justice can mean different things to different victims.
"It may include holding the offender accountable, but it may also be about being listened to, and it might be about having the hurt and harm acknowledged."
A worrying trend to have emerged in recent years is that victims don't feel that the system is doing enough to support them.
"In 2019, the chief victims' adviser produced a report suggesting that the vast majority of victims going through the criminal justice system feel that their needs have been ignored," says Mills.
"The chief victims' adviser has therefore recommended that we should be looking towards a much more integrated criminal justice system that focuses on restoring victims, focuses on victim wellbeing and enables victims to access support services independent from the offender-focused system."
Protesters were furious at the sentence of a teen convicted of rape. Photo / Andrew Warner
Mills argues that these insights should inform how the justice system evolves in the coming years.
"The current system doesn't work because it tends to sideline victims," says Mills.
"They feel ignored, they feel neglected and very often they're just seen as witnesses, who are given very little assistance. We really need to think about whether or not we can provide a much better system, which focuses on assisting victims and potentially restoring some of the harm that has been done."
• The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am.
