May 2001

New Zealand has a high rate of imprisonment by international standards, second only in the Western world to the United States. This needs to reduce. Why? Because increasing imprisonment does not reduce the crime rate any more than other sentencing options, yet it costs substantially more than other options.

We need new approaches to stop people offending in the first place, and to reduce re-offending. This is not a soft option. Society will be protected. Those people who should be in prison will be, in some cases for life.

The path to reducing imprisonment and reducing the crime rate includes prevention, alternative sentencing and rehabilitation.

Prevention starts with our children. Some offenders imprisoned for the first time are teenagers convicted of their first adult offence - although they may have an extensive history in the youth justice system - these youth are identified as a group for whom imprisonment could be reduced. Once a teenager is in prison their risk of re-conviction and re-imprisonment quadruples.

We must act to stop children from socially and economically disadvantaged families growing up into a life of crime. We know the earliest possible intervention works best and costs the least. Working with a five-year-old to change aggressive and defiant behaviour is estimated to cost $5,000 and has a success rate of 70 percent; the same behaviour at age 20 costs $20,000 and has a success rate of only 20 percent.

Alternative sentencing and rehabilitation applies to those in the criminal justice system who could be dealt with differently, and those who could be turned around from re-offending.

Many offenders are in prison for driving, property or drug-related offences. In 1999, just over 29 percent of offenders were in prison for property offences, around 22 percent for traffic offences, and 20 percent for other offences including drugs. It's not that these people should not be in prison, it is what we do with them while they are inside that will make a difference between a crime rate that goes up, or down.

We must use sound, research-based, rehabilitation programmes for offenders so they do not re-offend.

Our strategies must work for Maori. The Doone report on preventing crime by Maori says in 1998, Maori were 3.3 times more likely to be prosecuted, more likely to be convicted, and more likely to be sentenced to imprisonment; Maori made up 14 percent of the general population and 51 percent of the prison population. Providing for the unmet needs of Maori is a matter of urgency.

Our strategies must also work for other groups in society such as women and Pacific peoples.

A further benefit of reducing imprisonment is that reducing the prison population will eventually reduce the need for new prisons to be built. This, I feel, will be welcomed by our communities.

This report represents the beginning of a process to reduce the use of imprisonment. It suggests strategies which will be seriously considered and, where possible, implemented - rehabilitation programmes for serious driving offenders; drug and alcohol treatment for high-risk offenders; and Day Reporting Centres for offenders aged between 15 and 18 years.

It is not a report in isolation. Its outcomes link to the Corrections Law Review's aim to achieve better corrections law for New Zealand and to the Sentencing and Parole Reform Bill's aim to establish a firm, fair and rational sentencing framework for New Zealand.

In 2000, the Department of Corrections took their draft Treaty of Waitangi Policy Statement to Maori to seek their views on what the Department was proposing. At each hui and meeting a strong and passionate call arose from within Maori people. That call is expressed best in the statement: