Bill to create non-contact orders for victims of serious violent and sexual assault introduced

Justice Minister Judith Collins has introduced the Victims’ Orders Against Violent Offenders Bill into Parliament. The Bill aims to reduce the likelihood of serious violent and sexual assualt victims having unwanted contact by those who have offended against them.

The Bill empowers the court to establish a non-contact order that prohibits the offender from having any form of contact with the victim.  The orders would:

• be available to victims of serious violent and sexual offences where the offender was sentenced to five or more years in prison for a qualifying offence.
• impose a number of conditions on an offender, including prohibiting them from contacting the victim in any way, or from entering, living or working in a particular area.
• be available to victims who don’t have a current protection order or restraining order against the person who offended against them.

Jane Drumm, Executive Director of anti-violence agency Shine said she was delighted at the introduction of the legislation. However she criticised the time allowed between the offender's release from prison and acceptance of the non-contact order application.  Instead, she advocates for the order to be made at the time of sentencing.  Drumm also commented the threshold to obtain the order, a 5 year sentence, is high.

Conversely, Barrister Andrew McKenzie, who represents convicted sex offender Stuart Murray Wilson, argued that restricting offenders places to work and live is a breach of human rights and could potentially 'derail' rehabilitation by removing offenders' from their community and support networks. The Bill, however, attributes discretion to the courts to decide the appropriateness of the order. As stipulated in the Bill's Q+A document, "Allowing courts to have this discretion ensures that any potential limits on offender's (sic) rights are proportionate and justified under section 5 of the Bill of Rights Act 1990".

Media

New bill to protect victims introduced, Scoop, 27.05.2013

Bill to keep victims safe, Radio New Zealand, 27.05.2013

Anti-violence group welcomes non-contact order bill, Radio New Zealand, 28.05.2013

Lawyer says sex offender law breaches Bill of Rights, Radio New Zealand, 28.05.2013

Image: Human Rights by H d C Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)