The Government will introduce its promised sentencing reforms to Parliament this week, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has announced.
Goldsmith said the legislation will “ensure criminals face real consequences for crime and victims are prioritised” as Cabinet agreed today to introduce a bill for consideration.
The changes have been previously announced and are not new, except for the inclusion of two additional aggravating factors brought in from existing anti ram-raid legislation currently moving through select committee.
These aggravating factors respond to “adults who exploit children and young people by aiding or abetting them to offend” and “offenders who glorify their criminal activities by live-streaming or posting them online”.
The Justice Minister said: “These provisions have been transferred from the Ram Raids Bill that is currently before select committee so that amendments to the Sentencing Act can be considered together as a coherent package.
“These changes send a clear message that social media cannot be a tool to glorify or celebrate the actions of callous individuals, and nor should adults exploit children and young people in the commission of crimes.”
The Ram Raid Offending and Related Measures Amendment Bill was introduced by the previous Labour government.
“Communities and hardworking Kiwis should not be made to live and work in fear of these offenders who clearly have a flagrant disregard for the law, corrections officers and the general public,” Goldsmith said.
The proposed changes, as part of the Government’s legislation, are primarily focused on delivering its pre-election promises.
The Government said the upcoming reforms will strengthen the criminal justice system by:
- Capping the sentence discounts that judges can apply at 40% when “considering mitigating factors unless it would result in manifestly unjust sentencing outcomes”.
- Preventing repeat discounts for youth and remorse.
- Responding to serious retail crime by introducing a new aggravating factor to address offences against sole charge workers and those whose home and business are interconnected, as committed to in the National-ACT Party coalition agreement.
- Encouraging the use of cumulative sentencing for offences committed while on bail, in custody, or on parole, as committed to in the National-New Zealand First coalition agreement.
- Implementing a “sliding scale for early guilty pleas with a maximum sentence discount of 25%, reducing to a maximum of 5% for a guilty plea entered during the trial”.
- Amending the principles of sentencing to include a “requirement to take into account any information provided to the court about victims’ interests”.
Goldsmith said: “In recent years, there has been a concerning trend where the courts have imposed fewer and shorter prison sentences despite a 33% increase in violent crime.
“Public confidence in the ability of our sentencing system to deter and denounce offending has diminished.
“These changes will help ensure there are 20,000 fewer victims of violent crime by 2029, alongside reducing serious repeat youth offending by 15%.”
