By Tess Bartlett - Rethinking Crime and Punishment

One development in particular increased the importance of Victim ImpactStatements in court and in Parole Board hearings. Now, a statement ‘should beprepared for the judicial officer … so that he or she understands how the offence hasaffected the victim’ (Ministry of Justice, 2002b: 8). But these provisions onlyincreased the possibility of re­victimisation due to changes that were made to theParole Act 2002, by the same government. In addition to reducing parole eligibilityto one­third of a sentence, one national New Zealand Parole Board was established.This new Parole Board replaced the seventeen District Parole Boards across thecountry as well as the former National Parole Board (Smith, 2007). As aconsequence, when victims chose to give their victim impact statements at ParoleBoard hearings they not only had more hearings to attend (due to the shortened nonparoleperiod) but they often had to travel long distances to do so. Despite risingexpectations regarding its new deal for victims, the reality that was delivered had noimmediate impact. In effect, it further undermined any trust the New Zealand publichad in politicians (which in the Mood of the Nation Poll 2004 had the public rankpoliticians 17 th out of 17 professions in terms of trustworthiness) and enhanced thestanding of law and order pressure groups, such as the Sensible Sentencing Trust.The Prisoners’ and Victims’ Claims Act 2005As was discussed previously, this ad­hoc legislation was implemented with urgencyand the political debate surrounding the issue illustrated that the main priority for thegovernment continued to be satisfying public fears and anxieties. The purpose of thePrisoners’ and Victims’ Claims Act, which was retrospective as it had been backdatedto cover the prisoners in question, was to ‘restrict and guide the awarding ofcompensation’ to prisoners ("Prisoners' and Victims' Claims Act," 2005: s. 3). Anycompensation was to be awarded only under exceptional circumstances and only‘after exhausting all avenues of complaint’ (New Zealand Parliament, 2002a: Par. 3).Furthermore, if under exceptional circumstances, the prisoner receivedcompensation, any outstanding monetary payments, such as reparation or legal aid,was to be paid immediately and victims could ‘claim redress from any payment thatthe offender has received’ (New Zealand Parliament, 2002a: Par. 4). In defending thePrisoners’ and Victims’ Claims Act, Justice Minister Phil Goff stated the following:73