Police hate three strikes

Last month, we learned that the Ministry of Justice hated the government's "three strikes" policy, warning that it violated the Bill of Rights and international law, ignored existing government policy on targeting the drivers of crime, corroded judicial discretion and justice, could lead to juries refusing to convict, and would impact disproportionately on Maori. In response to this advice which they did not want to hear, the government took the policy away from justice and gave it to the police. Now it turns out that they don't like it either:

Concerns were raised when the policy change was announced in January that police rather than judges had the power to decide who would get a third strike which carries the penalty of serving a full sentence without parole.

In further papers released to NZPA under the Official Information Act, Police Commissioner Howard Broad wrote in December: "The three strikes legislation is reliant on the effective application of police discretion, following the arrest of an offender, when deciding the appropriate charge for an offence based on the available evidence."

He offered four options and Police Minister Judith Collins has since adopted a recommendation for police to refer all prosecutions to the Crown prosecutor before a third strike charge was laid.

Even the police think this goes too far, and want some constraints in the system to prevent perverse and unjust outcomes. But the government is pressing ahead regardless. Easy soundbites and positive media coverage are more important than good policy, it seems.