Mark Ron: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Mark Ron: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:615;Page:11092] 
10.  
RON MARK (NZ First) 
 to the  
Minister of Corrections 
: Are there any individuals other than Kevin Moana Jarden who might also be described as predatory paedophiles who have been convicted later given home detention and/or parole and who have subsequently reoffended; if so what are the circumstances? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN (Minister of Corrections) 
: 
 Undoubtedly there are other individuals who fit the category that the member has described. If the member could be more specific about a time period geographic location any specific cases he has in mind and whether the reoffending occurred while on home detention or parole or afterwards I would be happy to get the answers for him. Unfortunately the reality is that some offenders will reoffend despite the efforts of the justice system. What I can say is that when the Department of Corrections becomes aware that a child sex offender on parole or home detention is not complying with his or her sentence its job is to take appropriate enforcement action immediately. 
Ron Mark 
: Does the Minister not accept that failures by the Parole Board and the probation service such as in the Jarden case the William Bell case the McIntosh case the Carroll case and other cases in the pipeline pose a serious risk not only to the community but also to the integrity of the justice system and expose the Crown to punitive litigation by the victims and their families as we are already seeing in the case of William Bell? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: The first obvious point is that the system is not perfect. Of course it is up to someone to make the decision about parole and we give that decision to the Parole Board. In a number of the cases the member has mentioned—for example McIntosh—independent inquiries show that the cases were well managed by the Department of Corrections. In the case of Bell which the member mentioned there were obvious shortcomings and the Government has put considerable money into the probation service in order to overcome those shortcomings. 
Martin Gallagher 
: What is the Government doing to ensure child sex offenders can be monitored more intensively in the community? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: The Government has introduced legislation that provides for an extended supervision regime for child sex offenders. The bill would give New Zealand one of the toughest regimes for child sex offenders in the world with the ability to monitor certain offenders for up to 10 years after their sentences have ended. The bill is currently before the Justice and Electoral Committee. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: Given that the Government’s own research shows that 86 percent of the people released on parole reoffend within 5 years does the Government want to continue with parole? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: Yes. Parole is part of the post - prison sentence regime. The member will know that reoffending rates internationally for people who leave prison are traditionally pretty high. They were high under the previous National Government. But we can try to manage it better and that is something the department and I are working on currently. 
Ron Mark 
: Noting the fact that 86 percent of offenders who are paroled reoffend and the recent revelations about serious offending by people on home detention why does the Minister not accept that placing serious offenders on home detention is wrong was wrong and was never the intention of this House and when will he do what New Zealand First has been asking him to do for over a year now and that is change the law to prevent these people from getting home detention? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: The first point of course is that home detention was introduced by the previous National Government which that member supported. As far as front-end home detention is concerned it is for sentences of fewer than 2 years.