Borrows Chester: Victims of Crime Reform Bill — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeBorrows Chester: Victims of Crime Reform Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 16 April 2014. Volume:698;Page:17363. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon CHESTER BORROWS (Associate Minister of Justice): I rise in response to the comments made by the previous speaker the Hon Phil Goff and speakers previous to him. It is important to note the point that the honourable member Andrew Little made about restorative practices within the Youth Court and within our criminal justice system generally which are being enhanced all the time. Obviously as we all know they are world recognised because especially within the youth jurisdiction they are world leading and we need to be able to keep them up at that pace.Comments have been made around for instance derogatory messages given by some lobby groups against such things as restorative practices and in particular restorative justice conferencing. People have been suggesting for instance that restorative justice conferencing is more about the offender than it is about the victim. What we know of course is that that is absolutely incorrect. When we look for instance at the reoffending rates of those who have been through a restorative justice conference when tested against a control of those who were willing and able to attend a conference but it was withheld from them what we found was that in community-based sentences where restorative justice was completed there was a recidivism rate that was about 57 percent less and where it happened behind the wire in prison it was about 34 percent. That was a study by a young doctor HeatherStrang of Cambridge University a few years ago. So it is interesting to note that the complete opposite of what is being put about by the likes of the Sensible Sentencing Trust is actually true. Another point is that as I understand it—and I have been made aware of it on a number of occasions; I do not know whether the position has changed but I doubt it—the president of or the spokesperson for the Sensible Sentencing Trust has been given the opportunity to attend a restorative justice conference anywhere any time and although he said he would he never has. I think it is a terrible thing when people operating within a sphere of ignorance put themselves out to be experts.In respect of the matters raised by the Hon Phil Goff I make the following comments. Firstly about the time delay for the Victims of Crime Reform Bill all I can really say—he will know as well as anybody else—is that this Government has been extremely busy. The amount of legislation it has passed through—all of it is important and none of it is blatantly out there to do things like win the next election like theElectoral Finance Act was which we had to put up with in years gone by. But I am pleased to see that the bill has finally made its way to the Committee.In respect of youth within the Youth Court jurisdiction victims wanting to be represented within the Youth Court jurisdiction and funding when this Government came into office in 2008 one of the first pieces of legislation we put through was the offender levy contribution—$50 for every offender appearing before the court to be paid and that money to be used for victim services. That money was used to set up a number of different initiatives or to support a number of initiatives to support victims going through the criminal justice process. So it is that money used for those purposes that will now be extended to victims within the youth jurisdiction as well. But there are a number of specific rights that are extended pursuant to this part. The member will realise as I go through them that a lot of them are not expensive and will easily be met within the funding that has been set aside for those specific purposes under the offender levy.The first right is to attend a family group conference. An invitation is made for all victims to come to family group conferences. Whether or not they make themselves available for that family group conference largely depends on their own feelings towards it and their feeling of safety or feeling of really wanting to be in the room. Of course we are very sensitive about anything that could be seen asrevictimising a person who is already a victim but the ability to be able to attend a family group conference and take part in that along with their support people is a right that is extended. Another one is for victims to be informed about the services each agency provides and their ability to be able to access the support of those agencies. If the offender is a child or a young person they also have the right to choose whether to be informed of the progress following the family group conference plan. That is progress through that family group conference rather than necessarily through the court process which would also flow on automatically. There is a right to choose whether the victim wishes to express their views and they have a wide range of abilities to be able to do that. They can make a victim impact statement. They have the right to express their views in other ways as has been mentioned by my colleague Paul Foster-Bell which may not necessarily be in writing. That may be difficult if that person is a very young victim so they will be able to do it by way of pictures or speech or other ways. There is the right to make a complaint if any person from an agency does not provide the service consistent with the principles of this particular code that I am reading from at the moment.There are also additional rights for victims of specified offences which might be sexual offences or serious assaults and they include to be informed of and to express views on bail and other orders that may be sought by prosecution or by the offender. There is the right to read the victim impact statement in court or obviously to have it read for them. There is the right to choose to become a registered victim so they go on to the victims register for continued notification. There is the right to appoint a representative to receive information on behalf of that victim. There is the right to receive after the sentencing information and notifications as to the progress of the offender through incarceration and future appearances before the Parole Board. There is the right to choose whether to make a submission to a parole hearing or in respect of extended supervision orders. And obviously there is the right to be able to attend and to speak and be heard in respect of those matters.Just to allay the fears of the Hon Phil Goff the cost of this will be picked by those services that already exist. In effect it is extending down the services that are there within the adult jurisdiction. Obviously if there is a higher volume of victims requiring these services then there will be an increase of cost. It is expected that that will be metwithin the current funding arrangements and there is no suggestion that those would not be met. Thank you.