Howard League Mourn the Loss of Greg King

The Howard League Wellington is deeply saddened by the sudden loss of Greg King and our sincerest condolences go out to Greg’s wife, children and family.

As far as the League is concerned, Greg was not just a talented defense lawyer, he was also a justice system reformer and his ongoing contribution will be sorely missed.

As an active member of the Wellington branch of the League, Greg spoke recently at a branch meeting about his proposal for a “management court” system in New Zealand.

He studied community courts in the United States earlier this year whilst on the Eisenhower Fellowship. He was a strong and intelligent speaker. He spoke of how prison is often not effective at reforming or rehabilitating and is extremely expensive. The management courts would combine punishment and help and encouragement for individual defendants to address their underlying problems.

For Maori defendants there would be a strong cultural focus and encouragement to re-establish tribal links, values and support. The courts would focus on all of the offender’s criminality factors, such as drug dependence and rehabilitation, mental health, family violence issues, and employment.

Greg will be missed both personally and professionally. The Howard League will continue to advocate for his court reform ideas and his work will be honored and advanced.

ENDS

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Arguably Reassuring: Inspector-General Finds GCSB "Arguably" Legal

Of the 88 individuals:

• 15 cases involving 22 individuals did not have any information intercepted by GCSB.

• another four cases involving five individuals were the subjects of a New Zealand Security Intelligence Service warrant and the GCSB assisted in the execution of the warrants. The Inspector-General is of the view that there were arguably no breaches and the law is unclear.

• the Bureau only provided technical assistance which did not involve interception of communications, involving three of the individuals, so no breach occurred.

• the remaining cases involved the collection of metadata, and the Inspector-General formed the view that there had arguably been no breach, noting once again that the law is unclear.
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