Speech: Sentencing Amendment Bill - Rahui Katene

te-pati-maori

Fri Feb 13 2009 13:00:00 GMT+1300 (New Zealand Daylight Time)

Speech: Sentencing Amendment Bill - Rahui Katene

Friday, 13 February 2009, 9:44 am
Speech: The Maori Party

Sentencing (Offender Levy) Amendment Bill
Thursday 11 February 2009 8.45pm
Rahui Katene, MP for Te Tai Tonga

The word victim has taken on tragic connotations this week, with at least 180 people confirmed dead, and a death toll predicted of 300 from ferocious wildfires in Victoria, Australia.

Over and above the suspected attack from arsonists, there have been reports of looters robbing from the dead, stealing precious memories from the families left behind.

Victims come in many forms - they may have been offended against directly, their property may have been lost or damaged, or it might be a family member who has died or who is unable to make decisions about his or her welfare.

Victims may have been psychologically traumatized; physically abused; sexually violated; emotionally harmed.

Or they may be financial fatalities - falling prey to the actions of corporate crooks, such as the nine directors of failed finance companies Bridgecorp and Nathans. If we think of Bridgecorp for instance - which I try not to - we're thinking of some 14, 300 victims owed a grand total of some 459 million dollars including my own small savings.

The Maori Party believes we should invest in a restorative justice system where victims are empowered; and where government agencies work with whanau to support them on issues affecting them.

We are mindful that there are particular concerns around the disproportionate over-representation of Maori as victims of crime.

Maori victims experience almost twice as many victimizations as non-Maori.

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Even worse, Maori women victims have the highest victimization rate with an average number of 4.8 reported offences per victim. Maori women are over-represented among victims of domestic violence and are more likely to experience repeat victimisation from a partner. Maori are 50 percent more likely to be victims of property offences, like theft, and twice as likely to fall prey to violent offences.
Interestingly, the high rates for Māori and Pacific peoples have been linked to other risk factors associated with victimisation -they are more likely to be young, unemployed, sole parents and to live in more socio-economically deprived areas.
This then, is part of the group we might loosely define as victims.

This Bill responds to the moral imperative to support and respond to the needs of this group, giving new meaning to the concept that 'crime never pays'.

All offenders convicted of a criminal offence must pay an offender levy of fifty dollars at the point of sentencing.

It is a levy in addition to any other fine imposed on the offender - such as a prison sentence, community service, a fine, or any other reparation to be paid to the victim.

In its most basic form we support the concept of what is essentially a crime tax. We support the contention that offenders should contribute in a tangible, practical way, towards addressing the harm that their offending has caused.

Of course, while the $50 fee is a start, we are under no illusion that it is a straight forward solution to the complex range of problems that are associated with victimhood.

We wonder, firstly, if all victims will be eligible, or what the specific criteria will be to determine who can access the fund.

We will be looking to the select committee stage to hear the experience of providers and advocacy groups, around whether all convicted offenders should be required to pay the levy, or whether there are exceptions to be made - and similarly whether all victims will be entitled to access the service.

In particular we will be interested to learn whether all prisoners will have access to the fund and its services, if they are the victims of crime while incarcerated.

This is a situation of especial relevance to the situation of many female inmates, of which an estimated ninety percent have been identified as survivors of sexual abuse.

The researchers describe it as 'poly-victimisation' - in which offenders may well reveal a history of extensive abuse. In a Ministry of Health study of New Zealand prisons, they found that more than a third of women inside had experienced post-traumatic stress disorder.

So the question we would ask of the Minister is whether such offenders- who are also victims - will be able to claim for support.

Another set of concerns for us is about how this initiative may push open the door for privatization, and whether there are any long term implications for the operations of the Accident Compensation Scheme.

There is also the more philosophical question around the value of financial reparation - the levy and the fine - in contrast to what we might broadly call the loss of the enjoyment of life.

Perhaps instead of compensation alone, there could be work undertaken on alternative strategies to produce benefits for those who have offended and those who are offended against.

I am thinking here of something like Aroha Terry's work with SL Group Ltd.

The SL Group has been developing a programme designed to provide healing techniques and solutions from the inside/out.

The programme, Te Mana Wananga, gives emphasis to the restoration of the mana of offenders, victims and whanau, through the promotion of key concepts - wairua, tinana, tipuna.

And I believe this is an area where there could be far more emphasis given, if we are to truly support more recognition of victims in the justice system.

In the Victims Rights Inquiry, one of the key concerns put forward was the need for improved support services for complainants and victims - including information, legal advice, counselling.

And a biggie from that inquiry was the need to improve access to restorative justice. Under the current system of justice, a victim of crime is hardly acknowledged in the process. If anything, the victim's role is likened to that of a witness, victims feeling they have been sidelined in the whole process.

My colleague, Te Ururoa Flavell, has been calling for a marae based restorative justice system in the wake of the slaying of the young boy in Murupara.

A process by which everyone faces up, eyeball to eyeball, na te whakama matou i patu. It is about the group bearing the burden of the collective shame - i whakama matou mo nga mahi i mahia e tetahi o matou - we are ashamed of what one of us did.

This Bill - and the associated offender levy - is an important stage in empowering the victims of crime - and at the same time forcing offenders to face up to what they have done, and to make it right.

The levy is, however, only one part of a much bigger issue about how to create a more humane and a more restorative justice system.

The current system of justice is failing Maori - and indeed New Zealand - and the Maori Party is determined that we must see much more change in the system as a whole, if we are to truly achieve a system which promotes justice over injustice, which demonstrates fairness instead of bias; and in which all participants have due access to the law.

ENDS

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