PARLIAMENT Important Changes In Crimes Bill

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28986, 29 August 1959, Page 14

PARLIAMENT Important Changes In Crimes Bill

(New Zea.ajid Press Association)

WELLINGTON, August 28.

A Crimes Bill of 424 clauses, which consolidates and amends the Crimes Act, 1908, and embodies the results of a revision of the criminal code, was introduced and read a first time in the House of Representatives today. The bill was first introduced in 1957, but it did not proceed.

The existing Crimes Act goes back, with little alteration, to the Criminal Code Act, 1893, which was based on a code prepared in England in 1879. The English code was followed with satisfaction in New Zealand and many other countries, although it was not adopted in England itself.

The most important changes made by the bill in the present law are:

Penalties , Penalties have been revised, particularly with a view to a better balance between the penalties for offences against a person and those for offences against property rights. The death penalty for murder has been replaced by a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment Except for murder and manslaughter, life sentences have been abolished, the longest determinate sentence' under the bill for other crimes being 14 years. This does not affect the power of the Court to sentence anyone to unlimited preventive detention for a second sexual offence. U.K. Statutes The bill provides that no-one may be convicted of an offence against any United Kingdom statute. Where necessary, equivalent provisions are included in the bill. New Crimes Certain new crimes are created by the bill These include communicating secrets, sabotage in relation to defence, living on the earnings of a prostitute, keeping a place of resort for homosexual acts, killing pursuant to a suicide pact, cruelty to a child, kidnapping, car conversion with intent to commit a crime or avoid an arrest, being in possession of instruments for car conversion, and wilfully infecting a person with disease. Selections The bill abolishes a number of obsolete crimes—not resisting pirates, libelling foreign sovereigns, and the abduction of an heiress—and leaves a number of minor offences, at present crimes, to be dealt with in the Police Offences Act Bribery The present provisions have been extended to include the bribery of public servants, members and officials of * local authorities and public bodies, members of Parliament, and Ministers of the Crown. Sexual Offences Some of the penalties, particularly in respect of offences against children and girls under 16, have been increased. New provisions have been made to cover indecent acts in respect of children which are not assaults in the technical sense. Certain new crimes are created. These include inducing sexual intercourse under pretence of marriage, and sexual intercourse with a girl under care or protection. Penalties for homosexual acts between consenting adults have been reduced and graded accord-

ing to the age of the party concerned, being heavier for the seduction of young persons and reduced to three years imprisonment where the victim is an adult.

Homicide The provisions relating to provocation have been completely rewritten. The bill introduces the doctrine of diminished responsibility under which murder may be reduced to manslaughter if the offender, though not legally insane, was suffering from a mental disorder to such an extent that he should not be held fully responsible. A crime of infanticide with a reduced penalty is created. False Pretences The law has been altered so that a false pretence in the form of a promise which the maker intends not to perform, is brought within the criminal law. Criminal Damage The law is changed so that if a man destroys or damages property in which he has a part interest (as a mortgagor, for example) his act is no longer a crime unless it is done with intent to defraud or cause loss. Contempt Of Court A right of appeal is given against sentence imposed for contempt of Court committed in the face of the Court, and against conviction and sentence for contempt not committed in the face of the Court Attempted Suicide This is no longer classified as a crime. Provision will be made by an amendment to the Health Act or the Mental Health Act to provide for the protection and custody of potential suicides. Jurisdiction The bill makes clear that, with certain exceptions, offences are not punishable if committed outside New Zealand or the Ross Dependency. Jurisdiction extends to treason, inciting to mutiny, communicating secrets, piracy, or slave dealing committed outside New Zealand, and to bigamy committed outside New Zealand by New Zealand citizens or persons ordinarily resident in New Zealand. The existing jurisdiction to deal with offences committed on ships and aircraft outside New Zealand has been extended to include any indictable offence committed by anyone on board any ship or aircraft, if the offender arrives in New Zealand in the course of, or at the end of, the journey during which the offence was committed, and also to include any indictable offence committed on any aircraft outside New Zealand by a person ordinarily resident in New Zealand, though he may not be a New Zealand citizen.