By Tess Bartlett - Rethinking Crime and Punishment

package to prioritise this issue. However, the remand interventions only includedexpanding electronic monitoring for defendants on bail (which would add to thefiscal costs) and plans for a more efficient pre­trial court process (Burton, 2006d).The reason for lack of any major intervention once again came down to public safetywith the Minister of Justice noting:Radical changes to remand are not recommended because the size ofany possible gains would be outweighed by the inevitable increase inthe risk of offending on bail and absconding.(Burton, 2006d: Par. 6)This was despite the fact that from 2004 to 2006 less than half of defendants onremand were sentenced to a custodial sentence (Smith, 2007), which suggests thatthese individuals posed little risk in the first place.The 2008 General ElectionIn a final bid to salvage its credibility and show its commitment to criminal justiceexpertise, the Labour­led government introduced a Criminal Justice Advisory Boardin April 2008. Then Minister of Justice Annette King stated that the Boardsappointees consisted of ‘highly respected people who reflect the diversity of thecommunity, and who will bring a range of skills and perspectives to the board’(King, 2008: Par. 5). It was designed to help generate informed public debate oncriminal justice issues and as King stated, it would ‘[h]elp facilitate constructivecommunity dialogue about criminal justice issues and solutions’ (King, 2008: Par.4). The establishment of the Board was the government’s final attempt to enhancepublic understanding of crime and punishment and, in turn, undermine the influenceof penal populism.However, the 2008 general election interrupted the Labour government’s attempt toresist the forces of populism. The National Party considered the proposal for aSentencing Council to be a representation of the previous Labour government’sweakness. It was a sign that the government had ‘forgotten what they were elected todo’ (Power, 2008b: Par. 39), instead of being heralded as a solution to risingimprisonment and a way out of the populist penal environment. This view isillustrated in the following statement by then shadow Justice Minister Simon Power:97