Enhancements will empower victims of crime

Hon Simon Power
Minister of Justice
20 April 2011

Justice Minister Simon Power today announced a package of proposals to further enhance the rights and services provided to victims of crime.

“Victims can find the criminal justice system bewildering and have expressed frustration and a sense of helplessness in the face of a system that is slow and unresponsive to their needs,” Mr Power said.

“With the State prosecuting offenders on behalf of victims and the community, victims can feel sidelined.

“This Government was elected to improve the justice system for those who find themselves in it through no fault of their own and this package is a critical part of that.”

The package is the result of consultation by the Ministry of Justice with government agencies, NGOs, legal groups, and the public. It is made up of operational changes, which can begin immediately, and legislative changes which will be included in a new Victims of Crime Reform Bill which amends the Victims’ Rights Act 2002.

Significant reforms in the package include:

Reforming Victim Impact Statements (VIS)
The Victims’ Rights Act will be amended through legislation to: Give victims greater scope to express their feelings in their own words. Give victims of serious crime the automatic right to read their statement in court. Provide victims of offending by children or young people the right to attend Youth Court and submit a VIS.

Guidelines will be created through regulations to provide more clarity about what can be in a VIS and the processes for completing, submitting and presenting them.

Improving the Victim Notification System (VNS)
Building on current requirements to notify victims of an offender’s release on bail or parole. Victims will now be told: When prisoners of short-term sentences are convicted for breaching their release conditions. When offenders on home detention breach their conditions. All outcomes of bail hearings and the conditions that relate to them as the victim.

Victims will receive more information to: Ensure they are aware of the VNS. o Ensure agencies inform victims about the importance of keeping their details up to date, which will be of particular use for when the Parole Board is considering parole.

A Victims Code
The Victims’ Rights Act 2002 will be amended through legislation to require the Ministry of Justice to develop and implement a Victims Code. The code will improve the responsiveness and accountability of justice sector agencies to victims. The Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Social Development, Crown Law, Police, and the Departments of Corrections and Labour will be required to comply with the code. It will outline victims’ rights, list the services provided to victims by government agencies and NGOs, and outline the complaints processes. The Ministry of Justice will report back in October with a draft code for Cabinet’s consideration.

A Victims Centre within the Ministry of Justice
The Victims Centre will be a one-stop shop for overseeing the coordination of state-funded services available to victims of crime. Organisations such as Victim Support will continue to provide frontline services. The centre will develop and implement the Victims Code and continue to improve the information resources available for victims. It will also provide oversight of victims’ services funded by the Offender Levy, monitor the victims’ information line (0800 VICTIM), and the number of complaints received to determine if a victims complaints officer is warranted.

Improving victim-prosecutor communications
Ensuring prosecutors take reasonable steps to contact all victims of serious crime. Ensuring prosecutors offer to meet family members of victims who have died, before a defended hearing or trial. Ensuring victims of crime are informed about changes to charges laid against the defendant in a more timely and consistent manner. Victims should be informed about significant changes to charges before they are made.

New accountability requirements
The Victims’ Rights Act 2002 will be amended to require Police, Crown Law, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Social Development, Department of Corrections, and the Department of Labour to have complaints processes. They will also have to include in their annual report to Parliament a summary of their services to victims and complaints received.

Encouraging wider use of restorative justice
This will require criminal justice agencies to provide victims with information about restorative justice, and require district courts to refer eligible cases for investigation for restorative justice where services are available.

Mr Power said the proposals would be a big step forward for victims of crime.

“We can never legislate away the pain and suffering faced by victims, but I believe this package will help ensure that victims are not re-brutalised by their participation in the process,” Mr Power said.

“This is about putting victims at the centre of the justice system, and changes around Victim Impact Statements will go a long way to achieving that. As well, the Victims Centre and Victims Code will help victims navigate the bureaucratic maze and make their interaction with the system less intimidating.

“The package builds on the eight additional services for victims of crime introduced last year and funded through the $50 Offender Levy, and the introduction of on-the-spot police safety orders.”

Mr Power said the next phase in the victims work programme is to identify reform options for alternative pre-trial and trial processes for child witnesses, and pass the Criminal Procedure (Reform and Modernisation) Bill to speed up and simplify criminal procedure to deliver more timely justice to victims, defendants, and the community.

He intends to introduce the Victims of Crime Reform Bill by the middle of the year.

The package will be paid for out of existing baselines of the Ministry of Justice and other government agencies.

A copy of the cabinet paper is available here.

ENDS