New Zealand overusing the tool of custodial remand

“The Ministry of Justice’s findings that the rate of offending by those charged with the most common serious violent offences over the same period was about 1 per cent, shows that Judges correctly assess the risk in almost every case” says Kim Workman, of Rethinking Crime and Punishment. He was commenting on the statistical review of bail decisions, which refutes the claims that the judiciary are repeatedly making bad decisions.

“There is no need to change the bail law.As Chief District Court Judge Jan-Marie Doogue points out, a better approach would be to invest in assessment tools available in overseas jurisdictions, so that Judges get better information from the Police and other agencies about the level of perceived risk.”

“New Zealand’s custodial remand rate is far too high, by international standards. In the last ten years, the sentenced prisoner population increased by 33.7%, while the remand population increased by 116%. New Zealand has a very high custodial remand rate, at 41 per 100,000 of the general population. That is far higher than Australia (30). England and Wales are lower still at 25 remand prisoners per 100,000, followed by Ireland (15) and Finland (10).”

“Now is the time to stop and reflect on why the punitive treadmill continues to pick up speed, and find constructive ways to slow it down. That approach would be consistent with the governments Reducing Crime and Reoffending Action Plan, in recognising that being remanded in custody is a harmful experience which increases the likelihood of reoffending.”

“Data from the Ministry of Justice shows that 56 percent of cases that involved a period of custodial remand in 2006 did not result in a custodial sentence. Let’s not forget that a person refused bail is denied liberty, removed from an ordinary life in society and subjected to the hardships of prison life. These consequences are often damaging to the individuals involved, to their families and to children in particular, and costly to the state. Some of these consequences are common to all prisoners, and include loss of employment, loss of housing and debt. Of significant concern is the potential for detention to be criminogenic – that is, a cause of further offending. Some other consequences are particular to remand prisoners, such as difficulties preparing for and participating in the trial.”

“The hard truth is that New Zealand is overusing the tool of custodial remand. Reducing its use will save money, so long as suitable strategies are in place for monitoring and where appropriate, supporting offenders on release, - such as supported bail programmes. It would reduce the fiscal demand and drop substantially the rate of prisoners per 100,000 population.

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