Advocacy groups at odds over sentencing reforms for violent crime

The Government’s crackdown on crime is continuing with controversial sentencing reforms that have left two advocacy groups divided over appropriate consequences for violent crime.

The Walk Without Fear Trust has hailed the coalition's recent sentencing reforms, praising new limits on sentencing discounts which it says undermine justice.

The reforms are a “vital step in deterring repeat offenders and restoring public confidence in the justice system”, it said in a statement released this week.

The Sentencing (Reform) Amendment Bill was passed into law late last week.

Key changes include capping sentence discounts at 40 per cent for mitigating factors such as early guilty pleas, and family background and cultural factors.

Repeat discounts for young age and remorse have been restricted, and a new aggravating factor for crimes against home-business owners and sole workers has been introduced.

Walk Without Fear Trust spokesperson Mike Angove says misuse of sentencing discounts has led to lenient sentences for recidivist offenders.

“By the time you add those [discounts] up, you can have someone who's guilty of quite a serious crime like manslaughter from a coward punch, who gets his sentence discounted by 40 per cent.

“Now I'm sorry, that's a little bit ridiculous.

“If you’re 18, I think the impact of your family upbringing can be taken into account. If you’re a thirty-five year old man who’s a violent offender, you should no longer be eligible for those discounts and those discounts are applied because precedent has been set by the judiciary far too easily.”

However, Dr Grace Gordon, volunteer advocate for People Against Prisons Aotearoa, criticises the assumption that harsher sentences deter crime, and expresses concern about the enforcement of capping sentence discounts.

“It takes away the judicial discretion for judges to make individual decisions based on the people they see in court.

“There's a whole different range of factors that may contribute to someone's offending.

“Whether that's mental health issues, abuse that they've experienced in the past, whether they have meaningfully engaged with anti-violence programs, or drug and alcohol programs while they've been awaiting their sentence to show that [they’ve been] trying to take positive steps towards moving away from a life of crime.

“There's so many gray areas of sentencing, that having this arbitrary cap can create some outcomes that are going to push people into prison for longer, and that's not going to actually achieve greater collective and sustainable safety for all of us.”