Aotearoa New Zealand needs revamped legislation to manage high-risk offenders safely and more humanely, concludes Te Aka Matua o te Ture | Law Commission in its report Here ora: Preventive measures in a reformed law published today.

The Commission makes 149 reform recommendations to the Government. They include a new Act to replace the current law governing preventive detention, extended supervision orders and public protection orders.

The current law aims to prevent high-risk offenders from committing further sexual and violent crimes after they have completed a punitive prison sentence. It enables ongoing imprisonment or supervision, potentially for life.

New Zealand courts and international bodies have criticised the current law. They have found that indefinite detention with limited rights to rehabilitation is unnecessarily punitive and inconsistent with human rights.

The Commission is also concerned that the current patchwork of legislation is neither cohesive nor comprehensive and could undermine community safety.

Amokura Kawharu, President of the Law Commission, says:

“Good law in this important area should recognise that preventing high-risk people from reoffending and meeting their needs are not mutually exclusive.

“We recommend changes to ensure people who jeopardise community safety can be restrained when necessary. However, a central purpose of the law should always be to restore these people, where possible, to safe and unrestricted life in the community.

“The best way to do this, in our view, is to relocate the legislation away from the sentencing and parole context.

“We recommend a new Act that better identifies those most at risk of serious reoffending. It should enable supervision and detention to keep the community safe, but people subject to these restrictions should receive the treatment and support they need to be safe and functioning members of the community.”

The Commission’s key recommendations include the following:

• A new Act should provide a range of restrictions suited to the different levels of risk posed by individuals. They include supervised life in the community, supported and monitored residential life in community-based facilities, and detention in secure facilities.
• Preventive detention — a sentence under the current law enabling the indefinite imprisonment of offenders — should be abolished.
• Any person who is detained to prevent them from reoffending should be detained in conditions that are distinct from the conditions of punitive prison sentences.
• New legislation should provide greater entitlements to rehabilitative treatment and reintegration support.
• Eligibility should be based on conviction for one of a range of serious sexual and violent offences that indicate risks of reoffending.
• New legislation should continue and strengthen the option under the current law to place people within the care of an iwi, hapū, marae or whānau.

In developing its recommendations, the Commission engaged and consulted with members of the public, interested organisations, relevant government agencies, the legal profession and the judiciary, as well as with academic experts.

The Government will now consider the Commission’s recommendations and decide whether to reform the law.

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