NCJ Number
106266
Date Published
1986
Length
28 pages
Annotation
This study reviews sentencing in New Zealand 6 months following the implementation of the 1985 Criminal Justice Act (October 1985 - March 1986) and 6 months prior to the act's implementation.
Abstract
The 1985 Criminal Justice Act creates new sentences of community care and reparation as well as new parole and imprisonment provisions. Generally, property offenders are not to be imprisoned, and the new sentences extend the range of available dispositions. The new sentence of community care was used for only 2 percent of the convictions. Maori offenders were twice as likely to receive a community care sentence as non-Maori offenders. No other sentences were imposed in the majority of community care sentences. Over half of the community care sentences were for property offenses. The reparation sentence was used in 6 percent of the convictions, and 1 percent involved restitution. Younger offenders were more likely than older offenders to be given reparation. The new sentence of supervision was about half as likely to be used as the probation sentence it replaced, with only 7 percent of the convictions receiving supervision. There was a 3.1 percent drop in the issuing of custodial sentences and a 1-percent rise in the use of periodic detention. 23 tables.