Should we tell residents ex-con in their area?

parole conditions in place that allow for a thorough assessment of the offenders for the sake of public safety.

As for providing a notification to surrounding residents that an ex-convict is living in their area, there is certainly merit in the idea.

We have similar notifications for child sex offenders, where neighbouring residents in the vicinity of a registered child offender are notified so that any children in the area can be kept out of harm’s way.

If we were to support and eventually adopt a new law that would see the same notification process for violent criminals, we would need to see evidence that it would prevent future offending.

We also need to get the balance right. For some criminals who have gone to prison and been rehabilitated, would it be fair to provide their conviction history to their neighbours?

It is important we strike the right balance between keeping people safe and respecting those who have served their sentence and turned their lives around.

Ultimately, if notifying surrounding residents gives them peace of mind and can save them from what happened to Ms Herrera, then we owe it to New Zealanders to consider changing the law to allow neighbours to be notified of a violent criminal living in their area.