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Archived Press Releases 2004 15th September 2004

Payouts to Criminals must end say Sensible Sentencing Trust

(15th September 2004)

The Sensible Sentencing Trust is calling on Government to introduce urgent retrospective legislation to ensure an end to any further payouts to criminals.

The National spokesman for the Trust said that while they applauded the action of the Minister of Justice to appeal the recent decision awarding criminals nearly $500,000, in reality this did not go anywhere near far enough.

The news today that another 115 criminals will lodge applications asking for compensation has prompted the Trust to take the unusual step of appealing direct to the Minister to take immediate action.

We have today contacted the Minister and urged him to introduce urgent legislation to parliament to end this nonsense; we have also requested that any such legislation be retrospective, said Mr McVicar.

Parliament is the highest Court in the land, we need leadership from Parliament now like never before. The Trust is also contacting all other parties requesting they encourage and support Mr Goff with this proposal.

The Sensible Sentencing Trust represents more victims than any other organization in New Zealand and the feedback we are getting is that these people find this situation absolutely ludicrous and an insult, not only to them but to the whole concept of Human Rights.

Mr McVicar said representatives of the Sensible Sentencing Trust had already met with the Human Rights Commission and informed them that the Trust will be lodging submissions requesting amendments to the Human Rights Act. This is where this nonsense originated from, this is ultimately where the changes must be made, he said.

We call on every New Zealander to consider what this craziness is doing to the victims of these criminals, said Mr McVicar.

Parliament had no problem introducing urgent retrospective legislation to deal with dangerous dogs, we urge every politician to exercise the same level of humanitarian concern they expressed then. If this country ever needed political leadership it must be now, said Mr McVicar

Regards,

Garth McVicar
National Spokesperson,
Sensible Sentencing Trust.