Victims' compo claim law not working well - Power

Legislation introduced to ensure victims can make claims on compensation awarded to prisoners hasn't worked as well as intended, Justice Minister Simon Power has told Parliament.

The previous government passed the Victims' Claims Act in 2005, which said that when prisoners were awarded compensation for being wrongly treated in jail, their victims could claim against it before the prisoners could access the money.

"I'm afraid to report it has not worked as well as what was intended when it was introduced," Mr Power said tonight.

"Since it came into force only four out of 17 awards have been the subject of successful victims claims, totalling over $38,000 paid out to the victims.

"This meant that prisoners have still received over $60,000 at the end of the process."

However, Mr Power said that without the Act the prisoners would have received all of the money they had been awarded.

"Clearly, and perhaps understandably, there is a reluctance on the part of victims to claim against an offender's payout and that is working to the benefit of the offenders," he said.

Mr Power was speaking on the first reading of a bill he has introduced to extend the life of the Act until new legislation is in place.

He said it was government policy to ensure that when compensation was awarded to a prisoner, anything left after victims had made claims would go into the Victims Services Fund which is used to provide additional services and entitlements to victims generally.

- NZPA