Courts and Criminal Matters

by Kennedy Graham

The aim of the Courts and Criminal Matters Bill is to enhance the courts’ powers and processes for the collection of fines and other monetary penalties, and civil debt.

There is more and more evidence that we are an increasingly unequal society and that inequality negatively affects everyone. We support a fair and robust system for debt collection but we need to be careful it does not push people who are already struggling over the edge.

We need a justice system that keeps communities safe and addresses the causes of crimes.

While we can see the value in streamlining processes for collecting fines et al, we have not supported this bill and the Government’s proposed amendment.

One of our key concerns is that there has been no analysis or evidence provided of the impact of this bill on deprived socio-economic groups.

Introducing stricter provisions for when people default on their fines or debt will clearly have a disproportionate impact on vulnerable communities and people with limited financial means.

There needs to be mechanisms (such as potentially a case management system) to identify and work with people who do not have the financial means to meet fine or civil debt obligations. Putting people in jail, crushing their cars, taking their driver’s license, automatically taking money out of minimum wages and benefits – when they are struggling financially could have considerable negative flow on the people involved, their families, communities and ultimately New Zealand society as a whole.

The bill’s proposal to extend the amount of time that people can spend in jail for failing to pay fines and sending people to jail for failure to pay reparation orders are a clear case in point.

Putting people in jail, generally makes them worse and more likely to commit further crime. It is no solution for our fines system and at around $90,000 per annum for each prisoner it is very expensive.

We believe that keeping communities safe and addressing the causes of crimes need to be the focus of our justice system

We feel the punitive aspects of the bill do not reach this standard which is why we oppose it and the Government’s SOPs’.