Stop Weakening the Law on Murder
Stop Weakening the Law on Murder
Wednesday 12 Dec 2001 Stephen Franks Press Releases -- Justice, Law & Order
Eight murder victims in as many days should persuade the Minister of Justice to halt his Bill to reduce murder penalties, says ACT Justice Spokesman Stephen Franks.
"The Sentencing and Parole Reform Bill, now being considered by the Justice and Electoral Select Committee, removes automatic so-called life imprisonment as a penalty for murder. It leaves the penalty to the discretion of Judges.
"It sits in a Bill which:
* Doesn't
even include punishment as one of the purposes of
sentencing
* Obliges the Judges to apply the lowest
penalty they can justify, for any crime
*
Removes the current requirement that serious violent
offenders serve at least two thirds of their
sentence, and instead makes them eligible for parole
at one third
* Allows even serious violent
offenders to apply for home detention five months
before their parole eligibility date
* Says that
Judges must try to fine people if possible rather than
give other sentences
* Does nothing to end the
scandal of fines going unpaid until they are written
off by the Judge next time the offender is sentenced
* Promises nothing to ensure supervision of paroled
offenders is effective
* Does nothing about
the appalling low compliance rate with community
sentence conditions
* Says the Parole Board will
have to release prisoners if they don't present an
"undue risk" to the community, without reference to the
viciousness or seriousness of the crime, or the victim's
right to see the price paid
* Deceptively
refers to a 17-year minimum for murder when in fact
the fine print means it adds nothing to oblige Judges to
increase murder sentencing and leaves the length of
sentencing up to them just as it has been
"What will drive home to Phil Goff and his politically correct crew, that being the worst country in the English speaking world for violent crime is not just an accident or inevitable? It is a consequence of a failed 30-year experiment in offender-centred justice that he wants to entrench and continue in the Sentencing and Parole Reform Bill," Stephen Franks said.
For more information visit ACT online at http://www.act.org.nz or contact the ACT Parliamentary Office at act@parliament.govt.nz.