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ANNEX A - EXISTING SYSTEMS: NEW ZEALAND
The New Zealand Sentencing Council Act, which came into force in November 2007, provides for the establishment of a Sentencing Council to draft sentencing and parole guidelines. The guidelines are intended to increase the consistency and transparency of sentencing and parole decisions, and to provide reliable information for the effective management of penal resources.
The impetus for the reform of sentencing and the creation of a Sentencing Council in New Zealand was concern over a burgeoning prison population. To that end, the Sentencing Council must also prepare a statement on the likely impact of the guidelines on the prison population. The Commission which examined the issue of an increasing prison population approached the task by examining the sentencing framework and its deficiencies from first principles.
On the recommendations of the Commission, the New Zealand Government agreed that a Sentencing Council should be established to draft sentencing and parole guidelines.
The Council will be comprised of four judicial members, the Chairperson of the Parole Board and five lay members. Judicial members will be appointed by the respective heads of bench in consultation with the Chief Justice. Lay members will be appointed by the Governor-General on the recommendation of the House of Representatives.
A Sentencing Establishment Unit ( SEU) was set up within the New Zealand Law Commission in November 2006 to develop an inaugural set of draft guidelines that will form the basis of the Sentencing Council's work when it becomes operational. The Sentencing Council will be free to accept, reject or revise the draft guidelines.
Sentencing Guidelines
The purposes of the guidelines are to:
- Promote consistency in sentencing practice between different courts and judges.
- Ensure transparency in sentencing policy.
- Promote consistency and transparency in Parole Board practice.
- Facilitate the provision of reliable information to enable penal resources to be effectively managed.
Parole guidelines
In addition to producing sentencing guidelines, the New Zealand Sentencing Council must also publish guidelines about the granting of parole. It is envisaged that the parole guidelines will focus on critical and overarching matters for the granting of parole. This is likely to include, for example, guidance on the amount of time offenders can expect to serve according to identified risk categories.
The guidelines will be subject to extensive public consultation and Parliamentary scrutiny before coming into force, under a process laid down in the 2007 Act. The guidelines are not expected to come into force until October 2009 at the earliest.
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