Little Andrew: Victims of Crime Reform Bill — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeLittle Andrew: Victims of Crime Reform Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 16 April 2014. Volume:698;Page:17358. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]ANDREW LITTLE (Labour): As my colleagues have said in the earlier discussions on this bill the Victims of Crime Reform Bill at this very important Committee stage it is absolutely crucial that this Parliament continues to recognise the important role that victims must play in the administration of criminal justice. They are the party who have been most overlooked.We have inherited the administration of our criminal justice system from Britain and we have adopted the principles that go with it—that is the interests of the victim are subsumed into the interests of society at large as the court system addresses criminal wrongdoing. But that has not been good enough in the modern age when getting through the requirements of a prosecution—and if there is a conviction then sentencing and the disposal of the matter—has overlooked the impact of offending on a victim.Over the last 20 years the rights of victims and the place of victims in our judicial system have changed significantly and for the better. That is a good thing. It is right that we should gradually and over time improve and amend the way the place of victims is represented in court and that their rights and the rights—The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Lindsay Tisch): Sorry to interrupt the honourable member. The time has come for me to leave the Chair for the dinner break.Sitting suspended from 6 p.m. to 7.30 p.m.ANDREW LITTLE: Thank you for the opportunity to resume what I was saying before I was interrupted by the ever so important dinner bell and to say as I was saying about how this is a very important area of endeavour not only for lawmaking but for the conduct of the law in the criminal justice system. It is not an area that is taken lightly by this House and the members in it or by anybody whom I am aware of—notleast of course the victims who are affected and who benefit from the laws and the improvements we make in them from time to time. But it is also an area of the law that requires a champion in the form of a Minister of Justice who is beyond reproach and conducts themselves with considerable integrity. The victims look to our criminal justice system for their share of justice if you like so that their interests and their cause are heard by the courts and are taken into account when criminal matters are being disposed of.This is a very crucial area and we should ask the question: what if somebody holding public office were themselves to be convicted of a designated crime a crime that the Commissioner of Police said ought to be one of those affected by this piece of legislation? Who is the victim of somebody who commits a crime in public office or who misconducts themselves in public office? It is the people of New Zealand. So we need to make sure that when we are making rules for every other citizen—for those who transgress the law and those who are victims of those transgressions—we are ourselves people of principle and operate with integrity.With that in mind I come to Part 2 and these provisions here and these relate to the Children Young Persons and Their Families Act—at least to those parts of that legislation that cover the administration of justice for young people and children who commit crimes or at least have allegations of offences made against them. These changes extend victims’ rights to those who are victims of crimes committed by children and that is right. So when the Youth Court is dealing with young people and when the issue of for example their being considered for bail is considered by the court then it is right that victims of that criminal offending should know about it and should have a say on that because they are the ones who have been affected. Even though it is a bail hearing and the issue of guilt or non-guilt is yet to be determined—there is no issue of a conviction being entered—nevertheless generally speaking by that time the issue is not whether the person before the court has done anything wrong. That is usually clear. It is of course whether or not they are guilty of the specified offence and that the elements of the offence have been made out and therefore a conviction entered. But even at the bail stage when all that there isis an allegation or a charging document laid it is still appropriate for the victim of an offence in those circumstances to be heard and that their views and their interests are considered. We accept that and we think that this makes a reasonable addition to the rights that the primary legislation provides for.The next significant change is the right to attend a family group conference. This allows the victim of an offence to attend or to be represented at a family group conference that is dealing with a young offender. Again that also is an appropriate measure. For a Government that creditably has been doing good things in relation to restorative justice this is effectively a restorative justice measure. The Sensible Sentencing Trust is not a fan of restorative justice and there is a story about an offshoot of the Sensible Sentencing Trust meeting in a hotel last year at the same time as a national conference on restorative justice was being held. That offshoot of the Sensible Sentencing Trust approached the hotel management and instructed the hotel management that if the folks in the hotel who were meeting to talk about restorative justice were not evicted from the hotel and did not have their meeting shut down then this offshoot group would itself leave the hotel and would not be paying its bill.It is a bit sad that a victims’ advocacy organisation and its offshoot should take that attitude towards restorative justice. Our view is very clear: whether a victim participates in a restorative justice process is a matter for the victim because it is not just about the perpetrator of the crime; it is about the victim having an opportunity to confront the perpetrator of the crime against them. It is an opportunity to come to terms with theoffending and for them to understand. The victims I have spoken to who have been through a restorative justice process have said that usually their expectations are exceeded.It is right that this process is available for the victims of adult offenders and that the victims of young offenders should also have the opportunity to participate in those processes that are about trying to get the young person back on track and hopefully avoiding a recurrence. And if there are underlying problems—social health-wise or other—then that is an opportunity an early intervention that can take place. Why should the victim not have something to say about that? Why should a young offender not be able to hear from a victim in a controlled setting about the impact of the offending on them? That is a worthwhile and good measure in clause 36 of this bill and we support it.The other significant change is in relation to one other aspect—which I shall name shortly when I see it. It is the provision in relation to what happens when a youth offender or a young offender goes through the system and the matter is disposed of—ensuring that victims are kept apprised of that. If they are to be further processed in the criminal justice system or if having been processed they are then to be released or released on any conditions then the victim of the young offender is to be notified as well. Sadly also if a young offender who has been detained in a facility—whether it is a prison or whether it is a youth facility—dies during the course of that then the victim is to be notified of that as well. That is a tragic occurrence that happens occasionally and hopefully not too often.My colleagues have said in relation to the other parts of the bill that this does make good and important changes for the administration of justice and for victims and we support it. This particular part that deals with young offenders and young offending and the victims of them has useful changes that I think will go some way to addressing our criminal offending rate helping the fate of young offenders and stopping them graduating on to harsher offending through the involvement of their victims in the processes set up to deal with them.