The Justice and Electoral Committee has reported back [PDF] on the Crimes (Provocation Repeal) Amendment Bill, and recommended that it be passed with a minor tweak to clarify that the common law defence of provocation is also abolished. The bill will now go back to the House, and will hopefully be law by the end of the year.
The select committee report does deal briefly with some of the myths of provocation - primarily that it protects battered or mentally ill defendants, rather than violent bigots and misogynists - and dismisses them. There is simply no justification for this relic of the past to continue in New Zealand law, and the sooner it is expunged, the better.
