Inquiry into Corrections Management of Sex Offenders Supported

Corrections Minister Judith Collins suggestion of an independent inquiry into the management of released sex offenders (TVOne ‘Q and A’ 28 August 2016) is timely, says Dr Kim Workman, Adjunct Research Associate, at the Institute of Criminology, Victoria University.

“The current Corrections approach is fuelling public anxiety. When neighbours learn that a released offender is being monitored 24 hours a day, and is subject to a myriad of restrictions then all that does is turn anxiety into fear. The only Corrections option currently on the table, is to confine offenders to a prison under a Public Protection Order beyond their sentenced term, or use an Extended Supervision Order to maintain intensive surveillance within the community – for many, a fate worse than prison itself.

It is not helpful to point the finger at the judiciary. The Minister described the High Court decision not to grant a PPO in relation to the offender living in Mangere as ‘unfortunate’. The offender in that case had successfully appealed a sentence of Preventive Detention in 2001 – that is rare in itself. After 14 years in prison, it is unlikely that the Judge would then grant a PPO, which has the same effect as Preventive Detention.

Criminal justice professionals and psychologists are becoming increasingly concerned that the numbers being placed on ESO’s and PPO’s are too high, and that Corrections is ramping up the actual public risk unnecessarily. [Workman, Kim Is this the Dawning of the Age of Surveillance? The Journal of New Zealand Studies, (No 21) 2015 https://ojs.victoria.ac.nz/jnzs/article/view/3909] Recent research, using a sample of 7,740 sex offenders, examined the extent to which they were a risk over a 20 year period following release into the community. For high risk offenders, the risk was highest immediately after release, but decreased rapidly after that, from 22% after five years, to 4% after 10 years. For low-risk offenders, they remained low. The evidence shows that sex offenders ‘age out’ of offending more rapidly than most classes of offending, and do so whether or not they have the opportunity to offend. [Hanson, R. Karl., Andrew J. R. Harris, Leslie Helmus and David Thornton High-Risk Sex Offenders May Not Be High Risk Forever, in Journal of Interpersonal Violence published online 24 March 2014, http://jiv.sagepub.com/content/early/2014/03/20/0886260514526062]

What is needed is more constructive ways of managing offenders within the community, rather than replicating prison conditions when an offender is released into the community.

The Minister is right; an independent review is needed, and her suggestion that Mel Smith, an experienced justice administrator, lead the enquiry is excellent. Justice Sector Science Advisor, Dr Ian Lambie, or Social Development Sector Science Adviser, Professor Richie Poulton, would add the technical expertise necessary to an inquiry of this kind – both have expertise in the area of sex offender management.

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