Sabotaging justice

One of the achievements of the Labour-led government was the establishment of the Criminal Cases Review Commission in 2019. After decades of high-profile miscarriages of justice, and judges looking the other way on state conspiracies of silence and each other's fuckups, we finally got an outside body to cast an independent eye over dodgy convictions, and refer them back for re-examination. But now, National seems to be trying to sabotage it, by their usual method of dubious appointments:

[L]ast week Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith told Hampton, CCRC head Colin Carruthers, KC, and fellow commissioner Virginia Hope their terms wouldn’t be renewed when they expired in December, despite them wishing to continue.

They have been replaced by two less experienced lawyers, with the chief commissioner’s job controversially going to retired judge Denis Clifford.

On Thursday afternoon, Hampton resigned from the commission with immediate effect, saying that allowed him to speak about his serious concerns with the appointments, and the the CCRC’s future.

Hampton said the changes at the commission effectively stripped it of anyone with experience in the commission’s core work of investigating individual miscarriages, which he and Carruthers had extensive involvement in, prior to the CCRC’s formation.

Moreover, it removed the only people who had significant backgrounds in criminal defence work, and added more commissioners who were previously Crown prosecutors, Hampton said.

So, rather than being an independent, outside view, it will be the system "re-examining" itself (in some cases, they may even be re-examining their own decisions). The foxes will be back in charge of the henhouse, able to go back to pretending there isn't a problem, just like they did before the CCRC was established.

Pretty obviously, this will undermine public confidence in the CCRC, and deter people from applying. And that's the point. Miscarriages of justice are expensive and embarrassing for the state. And so it has decided to limit its liability - just as it did with child torture. The rotten state doesn't want justice; it just wants its victims to shut up and go away.

As for how to fix this, as with the Human Rights Commission and Waitangi Tribunal, sacking National's saboteurs would be a start. But beyond that, the next government needs to amend the CCRC's legislation to ensure that New Zealand judges, prosecutors, and police officers cannot serve on the commission or taint its independence. If we want people to have confidence in the CCRC - and by extension, the entire justice system - we can accept no less.