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Law And Order (2005)

LABOUR’S VISION

Government has a fundamental responsibility to protect the rights of its citizens, safeguard their security and ensure that the justice system is fair. A safe, secure and just society gives every citizen the opportunity to succeed.

It is not enough simply to be tough on crime. We must also be tough on the causes of crime, and provide a modern, effective, fair and accessible justice system through which ordinary New Zealanders get the rights they are fully entitled to demand.

LAW AND ORDER: TOUGH ON CRIME, AND TOUGH ON THE CAUSES OF CRIME

Early Intervention

Early intervention, to strengthen families and deal with anti-social behaviour at a young age, has the potential to be effective crime prevention and is more cost-effective in the long run than a lifetime of imprisonment.

Successful early intervention occurs during early childhood development – before a child develops the behaviours that might bring them into first contact with the criminal justice system. Interventions are targeted by social, health and education agencies at families with children whose early life circumstances indicate a heightened risk of developing the behaviours that lead to a whole range of potential negative outcomes – educational failure, unemployment, chronic poor health, drug and alcohol abuse, as well as criminal offending.

Labour will expand, subject to positive evaluation, successful early intervention programmes such as those utilising Multi-Systemic Therapy or wrap-around based approaches to ensure that we have the greatest possible chance of turning children away from the negative influences that can lead them to a life of crime.

Youth Offending

The vast majority of children and young people growing up in New Zealand have a great deal to offer their communities. There are only a small minority who become involved in criminal or serious anti-social behaviour, and most who do make mistakes of this type can and do get their lives back on track with the help and support of others.

Our response to youth offending needs to reflect that our overall objective is the development of the bright and positive futures that all children and young people should have the opportunity to aspire to. Within our youth development strategy, helping children and young people who make mistakes to turn away from slipping into a life of crime must be a priority. Those who we fail to turn around represent not only wasted potential, but also hurt, damage and cost to their future victims.

Preventing and turning around youth offending means working across our whole range of contacts with and influences on a young person's life – not just police, but also through schools, health and social services.

In 2002, following the Youth Offending Strategy, Labour established the first youth offending teams (YOTs) to ensure that the Police, Child, Youth and Family Services, Health and Education work together to address and resolve the issues that lead to youth offending such as drug and alcohol abuse. Since then the network has been further expanded.
Labour will:

continue to support and develop Youth Offending Teams as a highly effective way to reduce youth offending;
continue to work to implement the Youth Offending Strategy with a review of sentencing options available to the Youth Court, and further investment in early intervention programmes to turn children and young people who offend away from a life of crime;
continue to develop and roll out best practice programmes to tackle bullying in schools;
work to improve student engagement, to ensure that more kids remain at school learning rather than being truant or suspended. Absence from school greatly raises the likelihood of being exposed to negative influences and involvement in offending;
support the development of programmes that provide positive role modelling and mentoring for children during impressionable developmental years. Lack of positive role models, especially for young males, has been shown to be a major contributor to development of criminal behaviours;
open in an appropriate location the Te Hurihanga residential rehabilitation centre for young offenders who can be turned away from further offending through the use of Multisystemic Therapy. MST works to identify all the influences on a young person's behaviour – family; peer group; school environment; drug and alcohol dependencies – and address all the factors that are contributing to their offending. It is internationally recognised as one of the most effective approaches available for dealing with young offenders;
continue to work for improvements in the training and specialisation of youth aid police officers, to ensure the best possible outcomes from Family and Youth Court processes and to strengthen the role police play in intervention programmes targeted at youth offenders;
take action to remove the need for young offenders to be held for more than short periods in police cells;
evaluate the pilot Youth Drug Court and associated wrap-around support and treatment services with a view to developing effective responses to offending in this area.

Domestic Violence

All forms of violence are unacceptable, particularly family violence where the victims are usually women and children. It involves abuse of children and partners, frequently of a serious and repetitive nature, and often forms part of an intergenerational cycle of violence that can spill beyond the family into more widespread criminal offending.

Because of its seriousness and high priority for response, domestic violence also ties up considerable police resource that could otherwise be effective elsewhere.

Labour will:

continue to support implementation of Te Rito, the family violence strategy, and provide new impetus to the programme;
evaluate amendments to the Domestic Violence Act to ensure its effectiveness, for example through considering whether greater flexibility is necessary in the types and coverage of protection orders. Greater flexibility might allow for interim protection orders to be granted, and for coverage of orders to be varied where that is in the interests of dependent children;
support and develop the role of the newly-established Domestic Violence Clearing House, a national centre for collating and disseminating information about family violence- focussing on research and best practice;
support and develop the role of Family Death Review Teams;
consider the recommendations of the recent Open Hearing on Violence Against Women and Children.

Crime Reduction Strategy

Labour has been working to implement an over-arching Crime Reduction Strategy to help ensure that in responding to today's crime, we do not lose the opportunity to prevent tomorrow's.

Labour has already produced and is implementing detailed crime prevention plans on Youth Offending, Vehicle Crime, Domestic Violence, and Community and Sexual Violence under the Crime Reduction Strategy.

Under Labour policies crime has reduced and police crime resolution rates have significantly improved. Crime rates are the best they have been for over 20 years and Labour is committed to working to see these results continue to improve.

Labour will:

continue to implement, review and improve the crime prevention activities and initiatives flowing from the Crime Reduction Strategy, in partnership with local government and communities;
develop and implement further detailed action plans to reduce crime in targeted areas such as organised crime.

Graffiti

Graffiti causes damage in many communities. A range of alternative approaches has been adopted by local authorities across New Zealand and in other countries to deal with this problem. The effectiveness of these alternatives, individually and in combination, can provide a best-practice model for consistently effective action on graffiti across the country.

Labour will work with local government to develop a nationwide initiative to reduce the incidence and costs of graffiti, including an education campaign using legitimate graffiti art scene role models.

Making Fines Work

Sanctions such as fines and reparations are not effective at changing criminal or dangerous behaviour unless the punishment is enforced. An offender who thinks they have 'gotten away with it' once will likely offend again.

Labour will:

complete a review of the way in which fines are imposed, processed and enforced, and enact changes following the review to ensure that more fines are paid soon after being imposed and that other appropriate forms of intervention are considered;
implement more measures to collect overdue fines and reparations, including enforcement of fines at airports – to ensure that those offenders who have not cleared significant debts to society and to their victims cannot leave the country until they do so;
implement measures to improve the Court's ability to collect outstanding civil debts.

There is a relatively common pattern of young people building up a series of car-related fines, which rapidly reach an unaffordable level and becomes a chronic, irrecoverable debt.

Labour will:

make impounding and possible confiscation of a car easier, at an earlier stage, as a more effective penalty;
address the build up and non-payment of fines by implementing policies to intervene earlier to ensure debts do not become unaffordable, and to change behaviour to reduce the type of re-offending which leads to the build-up of fines.

Restorative Justice

Labour recognises that restorative justice has the potential to reduce re-offending, while putting things right for the victim. It enables the cultural context to become central to the process, and enables local community input to the justice process. Where victims agreed to this approach they have been overwhelmingly supportive of the process and results.

Labour will continue to focus on encouraging application of best-practice to increase the use of restorative justice schemes that reduce re-offending, and place the needs of the victim at the centre of the justice process, where victims agree.

Sentencing

Labour has passed new Bail, Sentencing, and Parole Acts. These laws provide tougher regimes for serious repeat offenders and have seen longer sentences and tougher decision-making preventing offenders who present a high risk to the community from being released on bail and parole.

Policies advocating total abolition of parole would cost billions of dollars and remove the ability to manage risk and recall to prison offenders who show signs of imminent re-offending.

Labour will ensure this legislation works as intended to keep serious and recidivist offenders who present a high risk to the community locked away.

Drug-Fuelled Crime

Those convicted of serious crime are increasingly seeking to avoid taking full responsibility for their actions by blaming methamphetamine or other drug use for their offending.

Hiding behind the "P made me do it" excuse is simply not acceptable. On the contrary, drug users wilfully and recklessly place themselves and others at risk by their substance abuse, and their deliberate decision to do so should be taken into account by the Court in sentencing for subsequent offending.

Labour will:

Ensure that deliberate use of illegal drugs is treated as an aggravating factor at sentencing for crime carried out while under the influence of those drugs.

Knowing that they will be held fully accountable for harm done to others as a result of their drug abuse will also provide a strong deterrent to anyone contemplating using such drugs.

In the same way that alcohol use is no longer an acceptable excuse for dangerous driving or domestic violence, it is time to communicate more clearly that society does not accept that the use of other drugs in any way diminishes culpability.

Protecting Our Children

Labour will amend the Sentencing Act to make criminal offending in the presence of a child, which endangers or otherwise exposes the child to potential adverse effects, an aggravating factor at sentencing. An example of this would be manufacturing methamphetamine at home.

Home Detention

Current statistics show that home detention is very effective at preventing re-offending, in comparison to prison, but improvements may be possible.

Labour will:

review the two-stage process for front-end home detention to see whether it should be established as a sentence in its own right, without Parole Board involvement in the decision-making process. The review will also consider whether current rules and policies are appropriate in cases such as those involving domestic violence.

Changes made to parole law in 2004 mean that electronic monitoring and home detention-like conditions are now more widely available as conditions of parole. This means the current distinction applying to back end home detention may need to re-evaluated.

Labour will:

review whether any changes to the back end home detention system are required in light of recent changes to the availability of electronic monitoring as a condition of parole.

Habilitation Centres

Labour will:

evaluate the success of post-sentence facilities such as the Salisbury Street Foundation in Christchurch to consider the potential for such facilities to play an important role in reducing re-offending;
consider whether evaluation evidence supports further development of a comprehensive network of habilitation centres.

Making Prisons and Corrections Work

Recidivism by offenders after release is a real problem that needs to be further addressed.

Labour will:

continue to minimise drug use in prison, with a combination of deterrence, security, and treatment. This will include increased use of drug dogs, increased prison security, and continued use of treatment programmes and disciplinary measures;
pursue new technologies to minimise the use of unauthorised mobile communications in prisons. This will help to increase prison security across the board, including the prevention of drugs and other contraband;
enhance reintegration for offenders on release from prison to the community. This will include the establishment of reintegration co-ordinators who will ensure that agencies work together;
work to ensure appropriate industry training for offenders and sustainable employment after release;
develop enhanced offender management systems across the Department of Corrections and with other agencies;
improve rehabilitation of offenders in prison and in the community;
ensure that offenders likely to benefit from sex offender treatment programmes can access such programmes;
deliver more effective management of offenders serving short sentences;
explore the effectiveness of mother-and-baby self-care units at Arohata and Christchurch prisons, and other ways of allowing parents in prison to meet their responsibility as parents in a manner consistent with the welfare and best interest of their children;
trial new technologies for electronic monitoring of offenders in the community.

Impersonating or Purporting to be an Agency of the State

Labour will develop policy, and as necessary further legislation, to deal with those who purport to act as government, courts or other agencies of the state when they have no right to do so.

POLICE: A WELL-RESOURCED, PROFESSIONAL POLICE FORCE

Supporting Police

Since 1999, the Labour-led Government has increased the size of the police force every year. We have now increased the annual police budget by more than $280 million and funded over 1400 extra police staff. We now have the biggest and best-resourced police force ever in this country and the best population to police staff ratio for at least twenty years.

The record resourcing of police, along with other factors including falling unemployment and a more stable and prosperous society, means we now have the lowest crime rate since 1981, and a greater percentage of crime is being solved now than at any time since 1987. The crime rate is now around 25% lower than it was at its peak in 1996/97.

Specialist police teams have been set up since 1999 to target burglary, methamphetamine, gangs and youth offending, and make better use of DNA laws. This focus on serious crime is paying dividends in reducing crime.

Labour will:

continue to support police efforts to drive crime down even further, through additional resources and better legislation;
provide for increased use of DNA by progressively increasing resources available for DNA testing and analysis;
establish a nationwide non-emergency number for police so that the 111 system is reserved for urgent calls and resource the Police Commissioner to fully implement the reforms recommended by the Review Committee to achieve a world class system.

Small rural communities face a different set of policing challenges from those arising in urban areas.

Labour will ensure Police establish liaison mechanisms to work with rural communities to understand and develop solutions to their unique set of needs.

Reinvigorating Community Policing

Policing in New Zealand is proving highly effective at reducing crime, but in doing so there is a perception that police have a lower presence in our town centres and communities. The public wants more day-to-day engagement with local police in our communities – to be able to communicate their concerns and ideas directly to a local police officer who will take the time to listen.

By strengthening community policing we can build a new layer of policing to work in and with local communities to prevent crime, and build strong and confident communities. Now is exactly the right time to open up this second front against crime.

Labour will fund the Commissioner of Police to progressively increase the resources for community police working locally to identify and pro-actively address local crime and disorder concerns. Community police will be an additional policing presence that will raise the visibility of police in local communities, work with communities to reduce crime, and contribute to a diminished fear of crime which can in some cases be as crippling to communities as crime itself;
The first boost to community policing will double the number of community police (an increase of 250) funded over two years, with numbers progressively increased thereafter.

Community Involvement In Policing Strategy

It is important that local policing strategy takes account of local perceptions of crime and community priorities for action. Closer involvement of local authorities, businesses and voluntary organisations would ensure greater local police awareness of community perceptions and also provide greater community understanding of the broader strategic considerations feeding into policing activity.

Labour will ensure that police establish effective community liaison mechanisms to allow a regular and formalised mechanism for local input into policing strategy.

Road Policing

Effective road policing has helped drive down the road toll to levels not seen since the 1960s. However continued enforcement of road rules is critical to further reducing the needless deaths that still occur due to excessive speed and drink-driving. Reducing police traffic enforcement at this time would inevitably lead to an increase in the more than 400 innocent people killed on our roads each year.

Labour will ensure that effective road policing delivers greater safety for road users, and that those who drive in a manner that is likely to put lives at risk will be caught, and face sanctions.

Policing And Ethnic Minority Communities

Police need to improve their profile in and relationships with ethnic communities, which are vulnerable to being preyed on by organised criminal gangs.

Labour will ensure that the police force reflects New Zealand society by encouraging Police to boost recruitment of officers from diverse ethnic backgrounds, including Asian communities, within an equal opportunities context.

Hate Crime

Ethnic communities and other groups in our society are vulnerable to prejudice-fuelled attacks. The police need to have the tools to monitor the existence of such attacks, enabling more effective use of Labour’s 2002 hate crime law.

Labour will encourage the Police to develop indicators to allow them to track the prevalence of crime motivated or aggravated by hatred of the victim on the basis of their race, religion, sexual orientation or other grounds.

Organised Crime

Since 1991 New Zealand has had legislation to allow the Courts to order confiscation of the proceeds of crime.

However, the law currently requires that somebody be convicted of a serious offence first. That has meant in practice that organised criminal gangs have been able to hide the profits of crime in the ownership of gang bosses who direct and control crime but who don't actually get their hands dirty.

Overseas experience shows that a civil forfeiture regime is the most effective way to take the profit out of organised crime. Stripping gang profits attacks lifestyles that are funded by the misfortune of victims, and means profits cannot be recycled into further criminal enterprise.

Labour will:

Pass into law a civil forfeiture regime to allow gangs to be stripped of the proceeds of crime. Organised criminals whose assets have been restrained by the Court will have to prove that their wealth has not been derived from crime.

Labour's record on combating organised crime is already extensive. For example, we have:

More than doubled staff, from 13 to 31, at the Police National Interception Centre (NIC), which undertakes electronic intelligence aimed at organised crime and gang involvement in the drug trade;
Provided funding for a third six-person surveillance team plus additional technical support for the Police Auckland Metro Crimes Services group, which focuses on on-the-ground surveillance of gangs and trans-national organised crime;
Made changes in 2002 to section 98A of the Crimes Act, which covers participation in a criminal gang, have seen a dramatic increase in the number of prosecutions brought by police under that section – 76 last year, compared to a total of 16 for the previous five years;
Amended the Crimes Act in 2003 to strengthen the ability of Police to fight organised crime by allowing them to intercept written communications such as text messages, emails and faxes, as well as oral communications;
Passed Counter Terrorism legislation in 2003 to allow Police and Customs officers to use electronic tracking devices as an investigative tool, and give Police the power to require assistance from a person where necessary, such as providing passwords to access computers;
Passed legislation increasing the penalty for trafficking in methamphetamine up to life imprisonment, and Police and Customs now have the power to search and seize without a warrant where they believe methamphetamine is present. A Misuse of Drugs Amendment Act has just been passed to ban the importation of precursors to methamphetamine;
Boosted funding by $8.6 million for Police and Customs to fight methamphetamine;
Committed a further $39 million over four years for a third 12-person Police clan-lab team; four chemical intelligence analysts, and an additional $17 million for ESR forensic analysis work, as well as the extra NIC staff and Auckland Metro surveillance team.

The government's response has had a huge impact. Police clan-lab teams have detected and closed down hundreds of methamphetamine laboratories. Customs has intercepted and seized record levels of methamphetamine and its precursors. In 2004 there were 53 significant drug seizures – up from 28 in 2003 – with over 17.5kg of crystal methamphetamine and 1.8 million capsules of precursors intercepted. In addition, ESR has now cleared up the backlog of its cases and is undertaking analysis in real time.

However, further focus still needs to be given to the area to ensure maximum effectiveness from these changes. Combating organised crime requires that government agencies work in a highly coordinated manner.

Labour will:

Reduce the quantity of illicit drugs and precursors being smuggled into New Zealand through further investment in front line Customs drug interception, drug intelligence and controlled delivery capability and training, to build on the success of interception initiatives to date;
Set up a cross-departmental Organised Crime Working Group to provide focus and leadership on organised crime problem and further ways to tackle it;
Develop and implement a comprehensive Organised Crime Strategy to build on the initiatives already in place to tackle gang crime.;
Focus on action to prevent children and young people being recruited into gangs.

Police need specialist teams focussed on combating organised crime in order to be effective.

Ensure that methamphetamine and organised crime continue to be high priorities for Police, and support that focus through further increased investment in specialist police squads to tackle these types of crimes.

Vehicle Crime

Vehicle theft costs New Zealand about $110 million a year in insurance costs alone. It also imposes on thousands of ordinary New Zealanders significant additional financial costs, costs to the economy, major inconvenience, and adds to the cost of insurance premiums for every motorist.

Labour will introduce standards and regulations to ensure all new and used vehicles less than 15 years old that are imported are fitted with immobilisers and whole of vehicle marking.

JUSTICE: A MODERN, EFFECTIVE AND ACCESSIBLE JUSTICE SYSTEM

VICTIMS RIGHTS

In 2002 Labour passed the Victims Rights Act. This law was the first update of the original victims' rights legislation (the Victims of Offences Act 1987) – also passed by a Labour Government – and greatly improved the rights of victims in the criminal justice process.

Labour will continue to ensure that the impact on and rights of victims are central considerations in the development and improvement of the justice system.

Families of homicide victims require special and immediate assistance. Family members are often required to make immediate travel and funeral arrangements, and not knowing how the costs will be covered adds further anxiety at a time of immeasurable grief and distress.

Labour will inquire into the level of immediate financial support available to the victims or families of victims of serious crime, especially homicide, and examine options for providing improved support.

COMMUNITY MEDIATION SERVICES

Many disagreements and conflicts within communities grow out of hand in the absence of accessible and sensitive mediation services.

Labour will work with local bodies and others to develop community mediation services, focussed on individual and community conflicts at the local level.

AN INDEPENDENT PRISON COMPLAINTS BODY

Labour will introduce and pass legislation during its next term establishing a new, and fully independent prison complaints authority. The new body will have both standards-based institutional inspectorate and complaints investigation roles. The possibility of combining the new body with an improved police complaints authority will be explored.

LEGAL PROFESSION AND CONVEYANCING REFORM

Labour will pass the Lawyers and Conveyancers Bill to introduce more consumer protections and accountability in legal services, and more competition in conveyancing and real estate.

MODERNISING AND STREAMLINING THE COURT SYSTEM

Court processes must adapt to new technology and legal procedures must continue to evolve, in order to ensure that our Courts are as efficient as they can be and deliver a higher-quality service to the public.

Labour will:

pass legislation reforming pre-trial processes such as preliminary hearings and disclosure;
invest in rebuilding critical Courts infrastructure, including courthouses, information technology, and personnel, to correct the running down of Court services that occurred during the 1990s;
investigate and roll out new technology such as voice transcription and electronic filing to improve the efficiency of court hearings and proceedings;
consider and take appropriate action on recommendations from the Law Commission report to ensure courts run more expeditiously and effectively and take more cognisance of the needs of witnesses in the interests of justice;
consider, within a broader consideration of the issues around division of jurisdiction between the High and District Courts, whether all Class A drug trials should be able to be heard in either court as appropriate to the circumstances of the particular case. Doing so may enable more effective use of court resources without compromising standards of justice.

Family Court

Settling family disputes is a highly stressful time. It is important that the Family Court is as helpful and non-intimidating as possible, to deliver fair outcomes while reducing the stress of the Court process on parents and children as much as possible.

Labour will:

investigate ways of achieving faster and fairer resolution of family disputes;
introduce legislation to make the Family Court more user-friendly and promote outcomes that assist families in settling their disputes in a timely manner to the benefit of all concerned;
implement changes to make the Family Court more transparent and less legalistic. Pilots using mediation to reach solutions will be continued, and if successful, expanded;
Labour will implement nationwide the successful 'Children in the Middle' programme to reduce the conflict and trauma for children caused by separation of their parents.

Legal Aid

Access to justice should not be confined to those with ability to pay. Current financial criteria for legal aid eligibility are overly complex and out of date. The disposable income and capital (savings and other property) thresholds have not increased since 1969, and the living allowances that may be deducted from income have not increased since 1987.

Labour will pass legislation so that eligibility for legal aid extends to a further 400,000 ordinary New Zealanders if required and where there is genuine need.

COMMUNITY LAW CENTRES

The Labour led government has supported the growth of the Community Law Centre network, but more needs to be done. New Community Law Centres are being opened in West Auckland and the Bay of Plenty. Such centres have a key role in ensuring access to justice. Labour is committed to strengthening and enhancing the role of Community Law Centres in the new regulatory environment.

Labour will:

review the coverage provided by Community Law Centres to improve access, and consider alternative sources of funding to ensure stable and sustainable funding levels in the new legal professional regulatory environment.

Jury Service

Labour will:

ensure passage of reforms to make it easier for New Zealanders to serve on juries and making more flexible allowance for those who can only give time for shorter trials;
improve the effectiveness and efficiency of jury trials by allowing for example 11-1 majority verdicts. In extremely complex cases or cases where jury intimidation is expected to be a problem, new provisions will allow for judge-alone trials.

Coroners

Labour will pass legislation to overhaul the coronial system, to improve processes and ensure the least amount of distress is placed on bereaved families. An Office of the Chief Coroner will be created to preside over the new system.

OATHS AND DECLARATIONS

Labour will pass legislation to modernise the various oaths that new citizens and those taking up many public positions must swear, in order to make them more meaningful and relevant to a broad range of New Zealanders.

Privacy Act

Labour will:

make changes to Privacy Act in order to ensure that the Act is not able to impede the reasonable sharing of information between government agencies in the broader public interest, where suitable controls and protocols to safeguard against improper use of such information are in place;
pass new legislation to outlaw filming of individuals in intimate situations without their knowledge or consent where they should have reasonable expectations of privacy.

Reviewing The Electoral Act

Labour will review the Electoral Act 1993 to consider, through public consultation and discussion, issues affecting the fairness and transparency of our democratic process. Issues to be considered include:

whether we should move to a simplify the current state-funding regime for political parties;
what the appropriate restrictions on electoral advertising should be, the boundary between promoting parties and candidates, and ceilings on advertising expenditure;
whether disclosure thresholds are appropriate, and whether there is a case for more controls on anonymous donations;
whether there is a need to clarify the stand-down requirements for state servants who become candidates for election.

OTHER REGIONS +NORTHERN