Release of violent criminals about to become torrent

By SCOTT INGLIS and NZPA

More than 1400 of the country's most violent criminals will be automatically released early from jail over the next three years.

Of those 1415 offenders entitled to be freed after serving two-thirds of their sentence, 610 are due out next year, with 510 and 295 the years after.

This compares with just 109 this year.

The increase is because tougher sentences have been handed down and more offenders jailed over the past decade. Their crimes include attempted murder, sexual violation, wounding and armed robbery.

Act MP Rodney Hide released the figures, which were obtained after written questions to Corrections Minister Matt Robson in Parliament. They apply to prisoners serving between two and 15 years.

Mr Hide yesterday attacked the large number being let out, insisting they should serve their full sentences.

"It's a huge worry because what we have is violent offenders being released earlier than what they were sentenced to," he told the Herald.

"If you go along to court and you've been beaten up by one of these thugs and raped and they get 10 years, you expect it's going to be 10 years and not six."

Criminals should be released only in the last 20 per cent of their sentence - and only when they had behaved well, said Mr Hide.

Rehabilitation programmes and release conditions were overrated and did not guarantee public safety, he said.

The numbers of inmates being released also drew fire from Greg Stenbeck, a spokesman for new victims' group Voice, which is seeking tougher laws and jail sentences.

Mr Stenbeck's son Aaron was engaged to Aucklander Kylie Jones, who was raped and murdered by Taffy Hotene. He had been released two months earlier after serving two-thirds of a 12-year term.

Mr Stenbeck said that based on Mr Robson's own figures on reoffending, 450 of the prisoners freed over the next three years would commit crimes again.

"These people need to be released with some form of probationary office control, but we know that is virtually non-existent.

"That group of people, it is terrifying."

Voice will have a private meeting with Mr Robson and Justice Minister Phil Goff early next month.

Mr Robson said yesterday that inmates about to be released after two-thirds of their sentence could be kept in jail if there was evidence of a specified danger or crime they might commit.

But the legislation was far too restrictive and the Government wanted to change it.

The new criteria would take account of a general risk to the public. Authorities would make a judgment based partly on prisoners' behaviour, their interaction with other inmates and staff, and progress in rehabilitation programmes.

New diagnostic tools would also play a part.

One new tool was a sophisticated computer program, part of which predicted the likelihood of criminals reoffending, based on their profile and history, said Mr Robson.

Development of the program began in 1994 and had involved examining the histories of 133,000 criminals. It would be introduced early next year.