New Zealand’s Justice Minister, Paul Goldsmith, has introduced a slate of new laws to send convicted criminals to jail for longer.
The measures are part of the government’s strategy to achieve 20,000 fewer victims of violent crime and a 15 percent reduction in serious repeat youth offending by 2029.
“Discounts”—reductions in sentence duration—for mitigating factors such as an offender’s previously clean record or addiction will be capped at 40 percent unless it would result in a manifestly unjust outcome.
There will be a sliding scale for early guilty pleas, with a maximum discount of 25 percent, reducing to a maximum of 5 percent for a guilty plea during the trial.
Reductions for youth and remorse will only apply once in an offender’s criminal career.
“Lenient sentences are failing to deter offenders who continue to rely on their youth or expressions of remorse without making serious efforts to reform their behaviour,” the announcement said.
Judges will be encouraged to apply cumulative sentences for offences committed while on bail, in custody, or on parole “to denounce behaviour that indicates a disregard for the criminal justice system.”
New Aggravating Factors Introduced
Offences against sole charge workers and those whose homes and businesses are interconnected will become an aggravating factor.Two other aggravating factors are also introduced: adults who exploit children and young people by assisting them in offending and offenders who “glorify” their criminal activities by live streaming or posting them online.
“In recent years, courts have imposed fewer and shorter prison sentences, despite an alarming increase in violent crime, ram raids, and aggravated robberies,” Goldsmith said.
“We know that undue leniency has resulted in a loss of public confidence in sentencing and our justice system as a whole. We developed a culture of excuses for crime. That ends today.
“Communities and hardworking New Zealanders should not be made to live and work in fear of criminals who clearly have a flagrant disregard for the law, corrections officers, and the general public.
End of the ‘Soft on Crime’ Approach: NZ First
As would be expected, both coalition minor parties voted in favour of the legislation.During its third reading, New Zealand First MP Jamie Arbuckle said it heralded the end of the former Labour government’s “soft on crime” approach.
“This bill is going in the right direction. It restores real consequences for crime,” he told Parliament.
The ACT Party’s Todd Stephenson said the changes meant sentences would better reflect public expectations.
“This is not unorthodox,” he said. “It’s just a Parliament taking an interest in our justice system and what people have told us and what kinds of sentences the community expects to see for violent offenders.”
Opposition parties spoke and voted against it, with Labour’s Justice Spokesperson Duncan Webb characterising it as a short-sighted, “knee-jerk reaction” that wouldn’t fix the systemic issues that his party believed were the drivers of crime.
“There’s a whole world of possible responses out there, but this government is saying no, just put them in prison for longer and that is the extent of their thinking around justice policy,” he told Parliament.
