Borrows Chester: Financial Review Debate — In Committee 
Borrows Chester: Financial Review Debate — In Committee 
[Volume:661;Page:9473] 
CHESTER BORROWS (National—Whanganui) 
: 
 It is good to be able to take the opportunity to review the year in this financial review of the Ministry of Justice and to review the work of the Justice and Electoral Committee and the officials from the justice ministry who have appeared before the committee. The previous speaker commented on the work of the committee and on the proportion of justice legislation that formed part of the Government’s 100-day plan and has been transacted through the select committee and the House over the past 12 months. I take this opportunity to thank those justice officials who have worked with the select committee and to thank the members of the committee who have worked very collegially over the last 12 months to transact that legislation. Although there have been some significant points of difference largely there has been a great deal of consensus within the committee which is the way that things should be with regard to legislation that we would like to think was relatively apolitical and was certainly needed. 
I take issue with a number of comments made by the previous speaker as to the work of the select committee and those things that appear to have slid past the committee. It seems a little difficult for a member of a party that is not represented on the committee to be able to make those sorts of comments not having been within the room. The point is that the issues raised in terms of youth offending are covered across a number of committees. They have been traversed within the Justice and Electoral Committee and the Social Services Committee and it is important to point out a couple of points. One point is in respect of the number of prosecutions of youth appearing before the Youth Court. Actually the proportion of youth who appear before the Youth Court as a proportion of all youth who come to the attention of the police is staying about the same as it was previously. About 20 percent of those who come to the notice of the police are dealt with by way of a family group conference along the Youth Court track and only about 20 percent of that group actually appear before the Youth Court. The reason that more young people have been appearing before the Youth Court is due to the scale and severity of the crimes they have committed particularly crimes against the person. The ability to deal with those crimes through ways other than prosecution is very very limited. 
It is important though to point to the work that the committee and the justice ministry have done over the last 12 months in respect of the legislation that has come before the House. They have worked on legislation that has clamped down on criminal gangs and their ability to work within the P trade. They have been tackling the problems of violent youth crime which is what we were talking about a moment ago. Not long after the National Government came in after the 2008 election one of the first pieces of legislation it introduced strengthened the bail laws in order to make it harder for violent criminals to get bail rescinding a move by the previous Government. Then the National Government removed the right of the worst repeat violent offenders to be released on parole. We introduced legislation to enable the police to take DNA from all people who are arrested for an offence punishable by imprisonment and that is probably the single piece of legislation with the ability to protect more people than any other single piece of legislation that this House is likely to look at enacting. We need to bear in mind that securing a DNA profile from somebody who is arrested for a relatively minor offence is likely to prevent an increase in the number of victims because identifying such offenders means that if they ever escalate their offending they can be identified. That is especially so in respect of crimes against the person where bodily secretions or hair is left at the scene of a crime. Those offenders will be able to be identified and will not be able to go on to commit the level of offending that has been seen as abhorrent in our community. 
The justice ministry gave advice on the setting up of the victims’ compensation scheme. That scheme involved the introduction of a $50 offender levy for any person who is convicted of an offence before the court. That money is put into a victims’ fund to assist in the education of victims as to their rights and the resources available to them to be able to attend for instance parole hearings or to obtain childcare while they are giving evidence in court. It will enable them to attend trials involving family members or trials at which they are to give evidence. The Legal Services Agency helps victims of crime and the families of victims of crime to attend parole hearings and coronial inquests at no expense but we had had instances in respect of that that we needed to address. We were pleased to receive support across the House in respect of that measure. Thank you.