New legislation eases concern over remands

Press, 25 July 1985, Page 20

New legislation eases concern over remands

PA Wellington Concern over the remand of 16-year-olds to penal institutions would be eased by an amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill, according to the Minister of Justice, Mr Palmer. The amendment would stop the remand of 16-year-olds unless they were charged with or convicted of an indictable offence, he said when the bill was given its second reading in Parliament. The amendment would bring the bill into line with present practice and was supported by the Departments of Justice and Social Welfare, Mr Palmer said. There was an “absolute bar” on the remand of those under 16 to a penal institution, he said. The bill is designed to bring sentencing practices and policies up to date and protect the community from violent offenders. A new sentence of reparation is also introduced to give more attention to the victims of crime. The sentence will be

available wherever the Court is satisfied that there has been quantifiable loss of or damage to property as the result of an offence. Mr Palmer emphasised that the sentence could not be expected in all or even most of the cases to compensate fully for loss. The bill also discourages the use of imprisonment for property offenders and other minor offenders. It also reduces the maximum number of hours that a person can spend in custody on a sentence of periodic detention from 20 to 15 a week. Mr Palmer said a provision in the bill allowing for the early release of inmates who could not be protected from serious assault would be deleted. The provision had been designed to allow prisoners who were likely to co-oper-ate in giving evidence useful in securing convictions, to be released because their safety in a prison might not be able to be protected. Instead the prerogative of mercy could be used.