Prosecution Review Sought by Government

A major review of prosecution services is being sought by the Attorney General

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A major review of public prosecution services is to be undertaken following request CabinetDomestic
Policy Committee

A Cabinet request for review has been submitted for an independent reviewer to review the current prosecution system with suggestions for a wide-ranging review of all public prosecution services in New Zealand, with a wide-ranging brief to determine whether changes need to be made to cut expenditure and deliver more efficiencies in the way prosecutions from the Crown and public agencies, including the Police, are delivered.

Currently indictable offences undertaken by Crown Solicitors numbered 2000 with a further 6600 related to criminal proceedings at a cost of nearly $40 million.

About 30 government agencies also undertake prosecutions, numbering up to 26,000 annually.

And the police undertake all summary prosecution activity. All will be reviewed in the $240,000 review proposed by the Attorney General and to be undertaken under the guidance of his office, along with the Minister of Justice and Minister of Police.

The review is intended to be completed in time for the setting of the 2012 budget.

The review will also cover the operation of the Crown Solicitors' service, based on private law firms handling Crown prosecutions and being a service that has operated for 150 years.

It will also include a review of the police prosecution service, which handles around 200,000 cases in the summary jurisdiction.

Although the prosecution system was reviewed by the Law Commission in 2000 and a discussion paper had been released in 1997, the services have not been examined since and yet prosecution numbers and costs have shown sharp rises.

The 1997 rejected the establishment of a separate independent prosecution service in favour of continuing the Crown Solicitor. Changes to the way in which the prosecution services are delivered have been made necessary by legal changes like the Criminal Procedure (Reform and Modernisation) Bill, the changes to Legal Aid and changes to Victims' rights, together with steadily mounting cost pressures on Government.

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