“That’s why we’re putting 500 police officers, and that’s why we’re defunding section 27 reports”.
Asked why lawyers and judges were opposing the change, Luxon said that was a question for them.
“The executive branch of government, in Parliament, we’re passing a law... the bottom line is these are serious, serious offenders.”
The revised version of the Three Strikes law - unveiled by Luxon together with Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee - is intended to deter repeat offenders with the threat of longer mandatory prison terms.
The former legislation was abolished under the Labour Government.
The new law would cover 40 serious violent and sexual offences, plus the new strangulation and suffocation offence. Only sentences above 24 months would be included.
McKee yesterday said there would also be judicial discretion not to apply the mandatory sentence or parole requirements if to do so would be “manifestly unjust”.
She will take a draft bill and paper to Cabinet by the end of June and plans to introduce the bill to the House soon after, aiming for the bill to come into force six months after it passes through the House.
The Three Strikes system began in 2010 under the Sentencing and Parole Reform Act and mainly targeted people who committed serious violent and sexual offences.
Offenders were given three “strikes”. The first two strikes received normal sentences but on their third serious offence the offender received a maximum sentence without parole - even if the offence was relatively minor.
Labour has called the return of the law “political posturing of the worst kind” and says there is little evidence that it will reduce serious crime - but that it does lead to unjust sentencing.
