New Zealand Ministry of Justice

The New Zealand Ministry of Justice "exists to create a fairer and safer New Zealand and provides many services on behalf of government to help achieve this." It provides advice and support to a number of Ministers of the Crown including the Minister of Justice; the Minister for Courts; the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations; the Minister Responsible for the Law Commission and the Attorney-General.[1]

Leadership and staff

The Ministry of Justice has a ten member Strategic Leadership Team led by Andrew Bridgman, Secretary for Justice and Chief Executive.[2] The Ministry employs approximately 3,800[3] staff around New Zealand and delivers a variety of services including the administration of court services and the collection of fines. The Ministry also provides policy advice to the Minister of Justice, assists with the negotiation of Treaty of Waitangi claims and the running of parliamentary elections.[4]

As of 2015 Amy Adams is the Minister of Justice.

Functions

Policy development

The Ministry has a number of policy teams which provide advice to the Government of the day on legal issues and any new legislation which is being proposed. The teams conduct research and evaluate policy relating to civil, criminal, and constitutional law, foreshore and seabed issues and Treaty of Waitangi negotiations. The Ministry also manages input from the public when legislation on justice issues is being considered.[5]

The New Zealand Law Commission also provides advice on legal and justice issues and is part of the justice sector. However, the Law Commission is an independent body[6] whereas the Ministry of Justice is not. The MOJ provides advice to the Minister but ultimately is required to implement and administer whatever policies the government of the day passes into legislation.

Providing support to judiciary

The Ministry ensures that judges are provided with administrative and technological support, as well as administering funding for judicial training and development. The Ministry has a difficult role in that it supports both the executive and the judicial arms of government. However, it co-operates with the judiciary to ensure that its constitutional independence from Government is maintained.[7]

Operational services

The Ministry's official website states: "The Ministry provides administration, case management and support services to the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal, High Court, District Court, special jurisdictions, and a range of tribunals and authorities in 103 locations around New Zealand". It also provides

"registry services, claims administration, research services, hearings management, judicial support and report-writing services for the Waitangi Tribunal. The Ministry negotiates for the settlement of historical claims arising from the Treaty of Waitangi, and manages land for use in settlements".[8]

Services provided by the Ministry include the administration of legal aid, the Public Defence Service, information about domestic violence and protection orders, separation and divorce, jury service, enforcing civil debt, and how to access wills and other records. The Ministry also provides advice to the Minister of Justice on miscarriages of justice, including the exercise of the royal prerogative of mercy and compensation for wrongful conviction and imprisonment.[9]

In 2005, the Ministry started work on digitising the court system which would allow judges to open computer files in court, make notes and changes including offenders' appearance dates and bail conditions. Lawyers have said that reliance on paper files causes multiple problems, including entire court files going missing. The intention was that the electronic system would lead to the development of a 'paperless court' thereby saving time and money.[10] The Ministry spent nearly $7 million on the project but in April 2015, wrote it off after the system was found to be incompatible with other IT upgrades.[11]

Sector leadership

The Ministry also provides leadership for the justice sector as a whole. As such it works with the New Zealand Police, the Department of Corrections and the Ministry of Social Development, the Law Commission and a number of other Crown entities.[12] In 2011, a Sector Leadership Board was established chaired by the Secretary for Justice and responsible for improving the performance of these agencies involved in the criminal justice system.[13]

The Ministry claims that the justice sector has been a success over the past few years pointing to figures from 2011, which show the recorded crime rate has reached a 30-year low.[14] However there are many factors which contribute to reduced crime and policies adopted by Government to address the Drivers of Crime appear to have limited impact. See Addressing the Drivers of Crime. There has also been considerable unease among certain sections of the public about the effectiveness and fairness of the justice system. Concerns about fairness have been exacerbated by a number of high profile 'botched cases' such as the prosecutions of David Bain and Teina Pora[15] and led to calls for a criminal cases review commission.[16] Professor John Pratt of Victoria University argues that populist groups like the Sensible Sentencing Trust have led to a decline in the influence of justice professionals (such as academics, public servants, forensic psychologists, lawyers and judges) on the development of penal policy.[17]

Justice sector costs

The Ministry's departmental expenditure for 2012/13 was $0.566 billion and the non-departmental expenditure was $1.079 billion. Departmental expenditure is directly controlled by the Ministry and includes the cost of administering the courts and tribunals, the Legal Aid system, the Public Defence Service, collecting court fines and providing policy advice. Non-departmental costs are administered but not under direct control by the Ministry. They include Treaty of Waitangi Treaty Settlements, Judges' salaries and Legal Aid Payments.[18] However the justice sector as a whole, including police and Corrections, has an operating budget of $3.8 billion a year and employs around 22,000 people. Over the next five years an additional $1.8 billion will be spent on new capital.[19] Around 80% of Justice sector expenditure is spent on criminal justice.[20]

Court workload

The court system is struggling to cope with caseloads. In 2012, 135,000 criminal cases were dealt with by judges in the district courts. About 4500 went to a defended hearing (decided by a judge); another 1,400 cases were decided by jury with another 113 jury trials in the High Court.[21]

In July 2012, district courts had more than 63,000 active cases.[22] On top of outstanding criminal and civil cases, there are also about 430,000 people with outstanding fines. In October, 2012, the Herald on Sunday said the jury trial system was approaching "crisis point as defendants and victims waited more than three years for some cases to be heard". The largest volume of case are criminal summary cases in the district courts.

Justice secretary Andrew Bridgman agrees the current system is "unnecessarily complicated and expensive". In December 2012 he told Parliament's justice and electoral select committee that: "The justice system and, in particular, the court system is not focused on the people who use the system, is unnecessarily complicated, not accessible in modern day terms and largely depends on paper and physical attendance at the court, is not timely, is expensive and the increase in costs are not reflected in better outcomes".[23]

Changes were introduced in October 2012 which included the closure of some courts and a reduction in sitting times for others. There has also been an increase in the use of technology in courts, allowing for some traditional court services to be provided online and court appearances via audio-visual link for certain offenders.[24] One online change allowed disputes regarding infringement notices to be actioned by email instead of having to write letters and go to court. 99% of such applications were processed within 24 hours.[25] Former Tourism New Zealand boss George Hickton has been appointed as the deputy secretary of district courts and special jurisdictions and will be responsible for making the "old-fashioned" district courts more efficient. Justice Secretary Andrew Bridgman said the role was created to separate the management of the district courts from the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal.[26]

In July 2012, the Criminal Procedure Act came into effect which has been described as the biggest overhaul of the criminal justice system in 50 years.[27] One change it introduced removed the need for juries at trials where the maximum term of imprisonment for the particular offence is less than two years.[28]

Jury service

In the lower North Island, 62,739 people were summoned to attend jury service in 2012. Nearly half (27,087) were excused while a further 9,334 were granted a deferral. The demographics of those excused left juries over-represented with beneficiaries and students. Dr Grant Morris, a senior law lecturer at Victoria University, says it is important that juries contain a 'cross-section of society' and that high numbers of people being excused could "undermine the justice system".[29]

See also

References

  1. ↑ What we do
  2. ↑ Who we are
  3. ↑ "Benchmarking Administration and Support Services 2012/13 Metric Results and Data points".
  4. ↑ About the Ministry
  5. ↑ Policy Development
  6. ↑ Law Commission Act 1985, Section 5 (3)
  7. ↑ What we do
  8. ↑ What we do
  9. ↑ Miscarriages of justice
  10. ↑ Ministry can't say how much wasted on e-court plan, Radio New Zealand
  11. ↑ Digital court system E-Bench's failure leads to near $7 million write-off, Dominion Post
  12. ↑ Who we work with
  13. ↑ About the justice sector
  14. ↑ About the justice sector
  15. ↑ Political roundup: The politics of justice, New Zealand Herald
  16. ↑ Reasonable doubt about the justice system, Stuff
  17. ↑ Pratt, John; Clark, Marie (2005). "Penal populism in New Zealand". Punishment and Society 7 (3): 303–322.
  18. ↑ "Ministry of Justice Annual Report 1 July 2012–30 June 2013".
  19. ↑ Court streamlining under way, NZ Herald 30 December 2012
  20. ↑ Formal Review of the Ministry of Justice State Services Commission, the Treasury, and the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Wellington, July 2012, p 3.
  21. ↑ Making the wheels of justice turn faster Dominion Post 8 June 2013
  22. ↑ Ready for 100 per cent pure clean-up, NZ Herald 30 December 2012
  23. ↑ Court streamlining under way, NZ Herald 30 December 2012
  24. ↑ Court Closures & "Access To Justice": A Community Law Perspective
  25. ↑ Court streamlining under way, NZ Herald 30 December 2012
  26. ↑ Ready for 100 per cent pure clean-up, NZ Herald 30 December 2012
  27. ↑ Court streamlining under way, NZ Herald 30 December 2012
  28. ↑ Speed of justice cranking up
  29. ↑ Jury dodgers 'risk undermining justice'

External links