Improvements to Sexual Violence Legislation in New Zealand - Home
Introduction | The scope of the paper | How to have your say | Improvements to sexual violence legislation | References | Appendix One
24. Several Taskforce initiatives involve improving the criminal justice system. The work covered in this paper relates to law changes that aim to improve the criminal justice process.
25. Ideas for changes to the justice system have been gathered from a range of government and non-government agencies, and in particular from our TOAH-NNEST partners. While this is a government paper, the influence of TOAH-NNEST in shaping our thinking is acknowledged. For example, advantages and disadvantages of changes to the law have drawn on earlier Select Committee submissions by community organisations working in the sexual violence sector. A working group convened by the Taskforce, consisting of government and non-government representatives, has assisted in refining proposals.
26. Preliminary consultation and scoping work undertaken by the Ministry of Justice has identified three possible law changes that would benefit from public discussion. These are:
27. In addition to these areas of change, this paper also discusses a number of alternative models to the current criminal justice system. While this work is in the very early stages of development by the Taskforce, we are taking the opportunity to set out a number of alternatives, including some examples of overseas initiatives. These broader changes have the potential to significantly improve the justice system's response to sexual offending. Your general feedback on these is sought.
28. Any legislative changes will not take place in isolation. Improvements to the current adversarial system will provide a legal environment that will allow for the criminal justice system to be more responsive to victims.
Matters excluded
29. This paper does not exhaustively address all legal issues relating to sexual violence. Some other options for change were considered but are not included in this document. One of the reasons for this is that the effects of recent amendments to the Evidence Act are not yet clear. Also, other issues now form part of other work that the Taskforce is currently undertaking.
30. Some issues require further scoping and identification of options for change. Others are large-scale, longer-term projects or issues that are best addressed by methods other than legislative change.
31. Legislation relating to child sexual abuse has not been included in this paper. There are significant differences in the dynamics of child sexual abuse and sexual violence against adults. The issues are distinct and require targeted action.
32. Child sexual abuse falls within the remit of the Taskforce for Action on Violence within Families as sexual abuse against children predominantly occurs within the context of the family. A recent New Zealand study found 86 percent of male perpetrators of child abuse were family members.[12]
33. Issues relating to children and families, such as child abuse and child protection, are the core work of Child, Youth and Family and are of particular interest to the Children's Commission, Families Commission and the Taskforce for Action on Violence within Families.
34. More technical and legal drafting matters that will assist in clarifying the current policy behind the Crimes Act and Evidence Act have also been omitted from this document, but these aspects of the legislation may be addressed at the time of legislative drafting.
35. Some issues and proposals raised by stakeholders in preliminary consultation involve a fundamental shift from the current approach. We include some of these ideas in the third section of this document on alternative models. We welcome your general feedback on other ways to improve the justice response to sexual offending.
Footnotes
12. Fanslow, J.L., et al. (2007) Prevalence of child sexual abuse reported by a cross-sectional sample of New Zealand women. Child Abuse and Neglect, 31, 935 - 945.
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