Most criminal cases are resolved via guilty pleas or judge-alone trials.
Chief Justice Helen Winkelmann reports that 41% of all prisoners are on remand.
She warns that “even a short period on remand in custody has long-lasting effects on a defendant’s life outside of prison – such as the loss of employment and housing – and on their family, in particular their children”.
Some remand prisoners “will not be convicted once they come to trial, yet will have already spent time, perhaps long periods of time, in prison”.
Others when convicted are immediately freed, having already served longer than the sentence.
Thanks to an excellent innovation, the Chief Justice’s annual report, we are hearing directly from the judges.
This year’s report is only the third such report.
The judiciary are an independent branch of our Government. It is important that we learn the judges’ experiences and priorities. The report deserves to be read and discussed.
The transparency is undermined by the report following the bureaucracy’s fad of giving Māori names to programmes, which likely means 95% of readers need a glossary.
The bureaucrats use acronyms, jargon and te reo words to create their own opaque language. An independent judiciary whose priority is open justice would use terms that everyone understands.
It is of no practical use to a Māori remand prisoner that court programmes have te reo names.
The Chief Justice proudly notes New Zealand ranks sixth out of 142 countries on the World Justice Project’s Rule of Law Index. It is reassuring that she says the rule of law here has not weakened.
Winkelmann advises that rising workloads have put the courts under great stress. Her solution? More judges, more lawyers, more courthouses, more legal aid, all very expensive.
Yet her own report acknowledges that “technology has the potential to be transformative by better enabling access to the courts and reducing the cost and complexity of proceedings”.
Digital case management and remote participation are being adopted.
The Chief Justice says New Zealand should be a “fast follower,” adopting proven innovations from overseas. Why only follow?
During the pandemic, nearly two-thirds of arbitration hearings worldwide were conducted online.
Today, in the United States, thousands run entirely on Zoom.
If private contracts worth millions can be resolved virtually, surely most civil cases, and many criminal ones, could be conducted online.
Justice must be seen to be done. It would be relatively cheap to install cameras and post all court proceedings online, enhancing open justice.
We should be investing in technology, not courthouses.
It should not have required a Royal Commission into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care for the courts to recognise that people with disabilities face major barriers to justice.
Spend a morning in a District Court. Many defendants are visibly unwell. Our prisons have become de facto mental health institutions. Neither the courts nor Corrections are equipped to manage the P epidemic.
Strikingly, the Chief Justice’s report describes the work of the courts but there is no mention of the Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Courts in Auckland, Waitākere and Hamilton.
These courts offer offenders with addictions rehabilitation instead of incarceration. The reoffending rate for graduates is 86% lower than those sent to prison.
After a decade, these courts remain pilots serving just three communities.
It is justice by postcode. In Rotorua, and elsewhere, we urgently need one.
The report reveals that jailing thousands of citizens on remand will continue.
Many are imprisoned because they cannot give a suitable bail address. Prison has become a very expensive housing scheme.
For those eligible for bail if they were not homeless, instead of sending them to jail why not contract the private sector to provide suitable community accommodation?
Bailed defendants pay their own accommodation costs. Those bailed to these community addresses should also pay rent, with welfare support if necessary.
This would preserve freedom, reduce costs, and free up prison beds.
The Government could scrap its plan to spend around $2.7 billion on new prison beds, nearly half for citizens not convicted of any offence.
The money would be better spent on Alcohol and Drug Courts, drug rehabilitation programmes and community accommodation for those on bail.
The Chief Justice is right that the rule of law is one of New Zealand’s greatest strengths. But justice delayed is justice denied.
When thousands are jailed while presumed innocent, prison is used as default housing for the homeless, and as a substitute for drug and mental health treatment, what sort of rule of law is that?
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