Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis continues to reduce community service sentence hours, showing he clearly doesn’t believe that offenders who do the crime, should do the time, National’s Corrections spokesperson Simeon Brown says.

“Since entering Level 1 as most Kiwis have been trying to return to business as usual, the Government appears to have been continuing to use its pandemic powers to wipe an additional 8000 community service hours from offenders’ sentences.

“Information released this week shows that more than 5500 offenders have had their community service hours wiped, to a total of 138,000 hours.

“The Government had two options when dealing with parolees and their community service sentences. One was to extend the amount of time the parolee had to complete their community service, the other was to wipe off hours and reduce the sentence.

“Kelvin Davis told Parliament the system was set up so that offenders could do their hours once lockdown was lifted. But not a single offender has had their timeframe to complete their sentences extended.

“Extending the timeframe to complete a sentence is a much more sensible option and would mean offenders still have to face the consequences of their actions. Instead, Kelvin Davis has effectively let criminals off the hook, sending a very poor message to their victims.

“National is the Party of law and order and we believe if you do the crime, you should do the time. Offenders should be held responsible for their crimes and fully complete the Court imposed sentence.”

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