THREE STRIKES LAW
The Government will reinstate the “Three Strikes” law, demanding that judges hand down lengthier – or the maximum – prison sentences for criminals who re-offend.
Yesterday, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee confirmed the Government would legislate to reintroduce the regime abolished by Labour in 2022, as promised by both National and ACT at the election.
“If this piece of legislation actually saves one person from the pain and suffering caused by violent, sexual criminal activity ... that’s a good thing,” Luxon said.
The aim was to take serious criminal offenders off the streets, he said.
The new Three Strikes will be a revised version of the past law, due to concern about punitive sentences being applied to minor offences – such as the case of Daniel Fitzgerald, who received compensation for a lengthy prison term in 2016 for what was alter ruled a “relatively low-level” third indecent assault.
He was given the maximum seven-year sentence, but in 2021 the Supreme Court ruled this was grossly disproportionate. He was later awarded $450,000 in compensation by the High Court for having services 44 months in prison that he should not have.
A Three Strikes regime is seen by the centre-right coalition as a deterrent to reoffending and a measure of getting recidivist criminals off the street. However, it attracted concern from judges for requiring disproportionate sentences to be imposed, and a Ministry of Justice study found there was “inconclusive” evidence of it reducing crime.
It requires judges to give offenders a “strike” warning if convicted of one of 40 major violent or sexual offences that have a maximum penalty of seven years or greater imprisonment. A second strike on a qualifying offence would prompt a “final warning” and a requirement that, if sentenced to imprisonment, the full sentence be served without early parole. A third strike requires a judge to hand down the maximum sentence possible, without parole, unless this was “manifestly unjust”.
The new Three Strike regime would:
❚ Cover the same 40 serious violent and sexual offences as the former legislation, with the addition of the new strangulation and suffocation offence.
❚ Introduce a new requirement that the Three Strikes law only apply to sentences above 24 months, or two years, imprisonment.
❚ Extend the use of “manifestly unjust” exception so judicial discretion can prevent very harsh outcomes and outlier cases.
❚ Provide a limited benefit for guilty pleas to avoid re-traumatisation of victims, and to improve court delays.
❚ See that people who commit murder at second or third strike receive an appropriately lengthy non-parole period.
McKee intended to bring a draft bill to Cabinet by the end of June, and to introduce the bill to the House soon after that. She expected it would take six months to come into force.
It was estimated the law could add 45 to 90 people to the prison numbers every year, for the coming 10 years, McKee said. She and Luxon both said it would reduce violent crime.
Asked about the Three Strikes regime disproportionately affecting Māori and Pacific people, due to Māori and Pacific people being over-represented in crime statistics, Luxon said it would “benefit” Māori because “actually we’re cutting down on the violent offenders that are casuing them pain and suffering, whether they’re Māori or non-Māori”.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins said the Government was trying to “look tough on crime” on the same day Customs and the Department of Internal Affairs announced cuts to border staff, anti-money laundering and digital harm staff. “They are rolling out the welcome mat to organised crime and there is an inescapable look between organised crime and violent offending in New Zealand.”
It was “not good policy”, he said. Green Party justice spokesperson Tamatha Paul said New Zealand had a “shameful” imprisonment rate – one of the highest in the developed world – and a return to Three Strikes would “lead to grossly unfair results that disproportionately impact Māori”.
Te Pāti Māori justice spokesperson Tākuta Ferris said it was “reckless law-making” that would will result in unjust sentences and accelerate mass incarceration of Māori and Pasifika.