Third Police Review Of Crimes (Substituted Section 59) Amendment Act 2007
New Zealand Police National News Release
2:58pm 19 December 2008
http://www.police.govt.nz/news/release.html?id=4606

The latest six month review of the Crimes (Substituted section 59) Amendment Act 2007 confirms that the impact on Police activity remains minimal.

When the amendment came into effect in June 2007 Police undertook to monitor its effect for a period of two years. The current review covers the six months from 5th April 2008 to 3rd October 2008.

During this period Police attended a total of 258 "child assault" events, of which nine were classified as "smacking" and 49 as "minor acts of physical discipline"

Of the nine "smacking" and 49 "minor acts of physical discipline" events, 40 were referred to either Child Youth and Family or an inter-agency Case Management meeting.

One smacking event was prosecuted, but subsequently withdrawn when the primary witness declined to give evidence. There were 4 prosecutions of "minor acts of physical discipline", 3 resulting in convictions with one still to be resolved through the court.

In the previous review period (29th September 2007 - 4th April 2008) Police attended a total 288 child assault events, of which 13 were "smacking" and 69 were "minor acts of physical violence". The most recent review shows a small decline in events compared with these figures.

Deputy Commissioner Rob Pope said "The review provides Police with an opportunity to continue to confidently and proactively monitor progress following the Amendment and address any practice issues which may arise"

"Activity remains "business as usual" for Police and confirms Officers are continuing to use a common sense approach to child assault events."

Police monitoring of the amendment will continue until June 2009.

Editors note:

There has been one review period of 3 months and two periods of 6 months since enactment of the legislation on 22nd June 2007. Figures for each monitoring period, including the 3 months prior to enactment, can be found at:

http://www.police.govt.nz/resources/2008/section-59-activity-review/table-stats-2.html

The link to the full report on the third review is:

http://www.police.govt.nz/resources/2008/section-59-activity-review/section59_crime_ammendment_act_2007.pdf

ENDS

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