Government failing sexual violence victims

green-party

Fri Mar 20 2015 13:00:00 GMT+1300 (New Zealand Daylight Time)

Government failing sexual violence victims

Friday, 20 March 2015, 10:14 am
Press Release: Green Party

Victims of sexual violence are waiting hundreds of days, and in the worst examples thousands, for their cases to be resolved by the justice system, the Green Party revealed today.

Information obtained from the Minister of Justice’s office shows just how severe the problem is. One case that was finally resolved in 2014 had taken 2070 days to get to that point.

“Justice delayed is justice denied, and it’s happening every day on this Government’s watch,” said Green Party spokesperson for women Jan Logie.

“The Minister of Justice Amy Adams and the National Government are failing victims of sexual violence in this country.

“No-one should have to wait 2070 days for their complaint to be resolved.

“The full numbers make disturbing reading. In 2014, 1424 sexual violence cases were resolved in one way or another.

“On average, those cases were 328 days old when they were resolved, with 50 percent of them having taken more than 271 days.

“It’s also taking far too long from the time charges are laid to a jury outcome being reached – last year, half of sexual violence cases took longer than 459 days, with one taking 1679 days.

“However, statistics can only tell part of the story. Every one of those numbers represents a person who has already been through the worst kind of hell you can imagine.

“On top of that, they’re now being prevented from moving on by court delays.

“We need to resource our justice system better, from legal aid to community law centres, to the restorative justice programme, all of which have faced Government funding cuts or been inadequately funded to begin with.

“Victims of sexual violence, and other crimes, should not have to wait so excruciatingly long for justice,” said Ms Logie.
ends

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading

a.supporter:hover {background:#EC4438!important;} @media screen and (max-width: 480px) { #byline-block div.byline-block {padding-right:16px;}}

Using Scoop for work?

Scoop is free for personal use, but you’ll need a licence for work use. This is part of our Ethical Paywall and how we fund Scoop. Join today with plans starting from less than $3 per week, plus gain access to exclusive Pro features.

Join Pro Individual Find out more

Find more from Green Party on InfoPages.