Life imprisonment in New Zealand

Life imprisonment has been the most severe criminal sentence in New Zealand since the death penalty was abolished in 1989. Life imprisonment is mandatory for treason and the presumptive sentence for murder. It may be imposed for manslaughter and Class A drug dealing. Offenders sentenced to life imprisonment must serve a minimum of 10 years imprisonment before they are eligible for parole, although the sentencing judge may set a longer minimum period or no minimum period at all (i.e. life without parole). Released offenders remain on parole for the rest of their life.[1]

Only six life sentences since 1980 have been for crimes other than murder - one for manslaughter in 1996, and five for drug offences in 1985, 1996, 2008 (two) and 2009. In contrast, there have been 813 life sentences for murder during the same period.[2]

Life imprisonment for murder

Since the Sentencing Act 2002 came into force, life imprisonment must be imposed for murder unless it would be "manifestly unjust".[3] Cases where it might be unjust involve mercy killings, failed suicide pacts, and "battered defendants" who were subjected to "prolonged and severe abuse".[4] Life imprisonment was mandatory for all cases of murder from 1962 (when the death penalty for murder was abolished) to 2002.

In serious cases with certain aggravating factors, sentencing judges must impose a minimum of 17 years imprisonment unless it would be manifestly unjust to do so;[5] this includes those involving a high level of violence, premeditated murder, contract killing, multiple/serial murder, the murder of a police officer or public official, and home invasion. Since the Sentencing and Parole Reform Act 2010 came into force, judges in extreme cases may set no minimum period, which means that the offender will spend the remainder of their life in prison without parole,[6] Judges must also sentence offenders to life imprisonment without possibility of parole if they have a previous conviction for a serious violent offence, unless it would be manifestly unjust to do so.[7]

If the offender was aged under 18 at the time of the crime, they must have a minimum period of imprisonment set; they cannot be sentenced to serve life imprisonment without parole.[8] The youngest people sentenced to life imprisonment in New Zealand were aged 13 years at the time of the offence.[9]

Longest minimum periods of imprisonment

The longest minimum period of imprisonment on a sentence of life imprisonment is 30 years, currently being served by William Dwane Bell, who shot dead three people, and seriously injured another person during an armed robbery at the Panmure RSA clubrooms on 8 December 2001. Bell was initially jailed for a minimum period of 33 years, which was reduced by 3 years on appeal.[10]

The longest minimum period for a woman is 19 years, currently being served by Tracy Jean Goodman for the murder of pensioner Mona Morriss in the course of a burglary in Marton in January 2005.[11]

No person in New Zealand has yet been sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

Preventive detention

There is also provision for an indefinite sentence of preventive detention, which is given for lesser crimes than treason, murder or manslaughter. Since the Sentencing Act 2002 came into force, this has been given to repeat sexual offenders and serious violent recidivist offenders. Preventive detention has a minimum period of imprisonment of five years, but the sentencing judge can extend this if they believe that the prisoner's history warrants it. The sentence of preventive detention was first introduced in the Criminal Justice Act 1954.[12]

The longest minimum period of imprisonment on a sentence of preventive detention is one of 26 years, given to Graeme Burton for ten offences committed during a shooting spree in 2007 – two of attempted murder, two of aggravated robbery, two of kidnapping, two of using a firearm against a law enforcement officer, aggravated injury and injuring with reckless disregard; it accompanied life imprisonment with a minimum of 26 years for a murder in the same spree,[13] and he had a previous murder conviction from 1992.[14] No women have yet been sentenced to preventive detention.

References

  1. ↑ "FAQ". New Zealand Parole Board. Retrieved 9 October 2013.
  2. ↑ "Adults convicted in court by sentence type - most serious offence calendar year". Statistics New Zealand. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
  3. ↑ Sentencing Act 2002, section 102
  4. ↑ Chhana, Rajesh; Spier, Philip; Roberts, Susan; Hurd, Chris (March 2004). The Sentencing Act 2002: Monitoring the First Year. pp. 13–14. Retrieved 10 June 2012.
  5. ↑ Sentencing Act 2002, section 104
  6. ↑ Sentencing Act 2002, section 103 (2A)
  7. ↑ Sentencing Act 2002, section 86E
  8. ↑ Sentencing Act 2002, section 103 (2B)
  9. ↑ "New Zealand’s youngest killers". 3 News NZ. 20 December 2012. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
  10. ↑ "Record sentence for RSA murders". Television New Zealand. February 13, 2003. Retrieved 2009-03-09.
  11. ↑ "Female murderer to appeal record sentence". The Dominion Post. 7 May 2008. Retrieved 27 September 2009.
  12. ↑ Gavaghan, Colin; Snelling, Jeanne; McMillan, John (2014). Better and Better and Better? A Legal and Ethical Analysis of Preventive Detention in New Zealand (PDF). University of Otago. p. 9.
  13. ↑ Independent Police Conduct Authority Report into the Shooting of Graeme Burton. Wellington: Independent Police Conduct Authority. 2008. p. 45. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
  14. ↑ Watts, Jerram (19 February 2010). "Burton sentenced to preventive detention". 3 News. Retrieved 2 May 2015.

Further reading

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Saturday, April 23, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.