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- Showing 4 posts filed under: Region: Pacific [–] published between Jun 01, 2011 and Jun 30, 2011 [Show all]
Victim impact statements: Some concerns about current practice and proposed changes
from the article by Chris Marshall in Rethinking Crime and Punishment:
Currently victims have the right to submit a VIS in a variety of ways, though it is usually in writing, and to request the opportunity to present the statement in open court. The judge has the discretion to deny this request and to edit the statement if there are concerns about its length or content. Under the new proposal, victims will have the right to use their own words in the VIS and “to address the offender so that the offender may better perceive the impact of the offence on the victim”. For serious offences (s.29 of the Victims Rights Act), victims will have an automatic right to present their VIS in court, though the judge retains the right to manage the process.
Jun 28, 2011 Region: Pacific, Country:New Zealand, Other, Victim, Court
Twenty years of restorative justice in New Zealand: Reflections of a judicial participant
from the article by Judge Fred McElrea:
The following aspects of the family group conference system stand out after 20 years as being both innovative and of potential value to adult systems as well:
Jun 24, 2011 Region: Pacific, Government, Guideline, Country:New Zealand, Design, Policy, Values
New Zealand study: Reoffending Analysis for Restorative Justice Cases: 2008 and 2009
from the Ministry of Justice study and summary:
The aim of this study was to determine whether restorative justice conferences led to reduced reoffending. It is based on data for offenders completing conferences in 2008 and 2009 compared with a similar group of offenders who did not receive restorative justice.
The principal finding of the report is that restorative justice had a statistically significant impact on reducing the proportion of people reoffending, and for those who did reoffend, there is an indication of a reduction in the frequency of reoffending and a lower rate of imprisonment.
Jun 16, 2011 Report, Region: Pacific, Country:New Zealand, Evaluation
New Zealand: Church leaders call for review of criminal justice system
From the article by the Episcopal News Service:
Anglican church leaders in New Zealand are urging politicians to set up a special commission to investigate the country's criminal justice system.
The move follows a remark by the Deputy Prime Minister Bill English that "prisons are a fiscal and moral failure."
Archbishops David Moxon and Brown Turei – along with the Anglican Social Justice Commissioner, the Rev. Anthony Dancer – fully agree with English's view.
They suggest politicians can build on English's remarks by: setting up a criminal justice commission to provide independent advice to the government; taking a non-political, bi-partisan approach to those issues; and systematically investigating alternatives to jail, such as restorative justice.
Jun 02, 2011 Country:New Zealand, Region: Pacific
