8th August 2007

The Parole Board and the Dept of Justice.

Simon Power of the National Party has been vocal in the news media about Judges needing to get tougher in their sentencing, saying when National gets into govt they will be beefing up legislation to bring in longer gaol sentences. It appears to me that the problem is not at the "sentencing" end when the judge sends the person to gaol, but with the parole board that releases them on probation often at the earliest possible time allowed within the legislation. The Parole Board consists of about 21 Judges and 17 "Lay" people. It would be interesting to know what proportion of judges to lay people actually sit on the hearings, but if the Govt (whichever party is in power) wants to ensure that the punishment fits the crime, then tackling the workings of the parole board seems a good place to start. To an outsider like me there appears to be yawning gulf between the judges sitting in judgement at the time of the crime and those doing the reviewing down the track, the original sentence being handed down as justice for the deed which very quickly seems to be forgotten or ignored in the name of rehabilitation.

On "CloseUp" last night the Minister of Justice, Mark Burton was saying that he was powerless to intervene in "Home detention" cases, but new legislation is about to be enacted which changes the way home detention is administered. This was in response to a recent decision (since rescinded) the board made to release a convicted rapist to home detention after only 2 years of a 7 year sentence. Perhaps this new legislation will curb some of the power of the parole board, but they seem to have tremendous power over matters which affects society and are accountable to whom?

TC