Removing character references and the building of our prison empire
National wants to scrap sexual offender character references. Should NZ go further?
Stopping judges from considering “good character” references when sentencing sexual offenders – as New Zealand’s National Party has pledged to if re-elected – may sound like a niche legal reform.
But it targets a real and longstanding issue in the country’s criminal justice system – and one that has drawn renewed public attention and debate over recent months.
In the courts, character references are typically used to show a defendant has no prior history of similar offending. Lawyers may point to the absence of previous convictions and present supportive letters describing the assault as out of character.
Such evidence can be introduced by defendants convicted of – or pleading guilty to – sexual offending in a bid to reduce their sentence, alongside other mitigating discounts that judges can apply under the Sentencing Act.
National argues that its proposed reform, which comes alongside a separate petition and campaign, would lead to tougher sentences and stop offenders benefiting from their personal reputation or social standing.
Some defence lawyers, however, have argued judges already treat such evidence cautiously in serious sexual offending cases, and warn that removing it entirely could undermine the principle that courts should consider all relevant circumstances at sentencing.
RNZ
In NZ we rightfully don’t have a statute of limitations on sex crimes, we wait for the surviver to be ready to tell their truth and trust a legal system to decide what is provable.
National have seized upon the character references part of the sentencing and raised disgust that anyone convicted of a crime could be allowed to have a character reference, but because of those statute of limitations, a person could be convicted of a crime they committed decades ago. If that person has gone on to be a better person, then that is important for the Judge to consider when passing sentence, all National are doing is what they always do, make public policy a moral issue.
They used this shtick when justifying why they stripped prisoners of their rights to vote.
National’s moralism doesn’t help justice, because justice requires mercy, what National are fermenting is vengeance.
Removing someone’s character references will see 35 more in prison over 5 years, but this is just a fraction of the problem we have.
National love throwing people in prison and the recent changes to arresting the homeless and changes in how stealing now get sentenced means we will be building our prison empire with shoplifters and the mentally ill…
Law changes expected to boost prison population over next decade
The prison population is expected to grow by more than a third in the next decade.
The annual Ministry of Justice projections also expect the number of people on remand – that is, behind bars but awaiting trial or sentencing – would leap 48 percent.
The report said there would be 15,200 prisoners in June 2036 – a 35 percent increase from 11,240 in February this year.
The numbers were in line with last year’s projections.
The report also said there would be fewer cases before the court, but more serious cases and longer sentences, due to government policy changes.
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith said the report’s predictions showed the government’s tough-on-crime approach was working.
RNZ
…Shoplifters and the homeless don’t deserve to be in our underfunded prison system. That experience will only damage them more. National don’t care about the damaged people coming out of prison, they only care about being seen throwing them into prison.
We are caught in a loop of revenge, not justice.
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Most sexual offenders don’t go on to live a good life. Many sexual offenders have a history of sexual offending which comes out after they are caught the first time. Most sexual offences are hidden, partly because of victim shaming. I must admit I don’t know what to do here, but I tend towards National’s idea.
Your “justice requires mercy” line has you sounding biblical where the mercy seat was above the law in the ark of the covenant. The rest of your article made sense as well unlike Paul Goldsmith who could only speak in slogans this morning instead of understanding that a complicated world sometimes needs more than one answer to the difficult questions.