Justice Policy Summary

Key Principles

• A greater focus on mediation, restorative justice and community-based justice.
• Crime prevention and the rehabilitation of offenders is as important in sentencing as punishment of crime.
• Victims, offenders, families and communities are supported in taking an active and meaningful role in restorative justice.

Specific Policy Points

Restorative Justice

• Increase funding and support for restorative justice in the criminal justice system.
• Support for restorative justice after sentencing, particularly in prisons.
• Adequately fund Victim Support to pay for victims to attend restorative justice processes.

Compensating Victims

• Provide counselling and compensation for victims, preferably paid for by the offender.
• Support provisions to deduct unpaid restitution and court fines through the IRD or Work and Income.

Prisons and Sentencing

• Increase the options available to judges in criminal cases, including referrals to social services to reduce future offending, community service combined with other penalties, and longer sentences of community service.
• A moratorium on all new prison construction except for the purposes of replacement.
• No private prisons, but support public and private contracting for rehabilitative services eg counselling.
• Increase provision for rehabilitation of prison inmates.
• Increased access to programmes in prisons focused on education, drug and alcohol rehabilitation and mental health.
• Establish 'family houses' for pregnant women and mothers in prison to ensure good bonding with infants and continuing attachment with young children.

Access to Courts and Justice

• Publicly funded mediation services for civil proceedings.
• Legal aid available for community organisations in matters of public interest, including Environment Court proceedings.

Maori Justice

• Maori tikanga and reo programmes in prisons and youth justice centres.
• Iwi and hapu collaboration in prison management.
• Support models of Maori justice systems and wananga to transmit such knowledge.

Youth Justice

• Maintain the age of criminal responsibility at 14.
• Increased resources for Family Group Conferences and training for FGC convenors.