Truth in Sentencing

Somewhere in Wellington, Stephen Franks is yelling into his cornflakes “I told you I was right”.

After advocating “truth in sentencing” for many years, he has had no less than the Law Commission join his call for it.

Labour greatly enlarged the number of crimes and sentences for which one could get parole after one third of the sentence. And listen to this quote by no less than Sir Geoffrey Palmer:

“The present sentencing system was based on something that bordered on deception,”

“We think that probably there needs to be a closer relationship between a nominal sentence which is imposed by a judge and the actual time served by a prisoner,”

The Commission has also called for the Parole Board’s activities to be narrowed. This is getting pretty close to National’s policy of abolishing parole. Now they have said that they think sentences should be shortened to compensate for a reduction in parole, but there I disagree.

Overall though looks to be a sensible move in the right direction. It will be interesting to see if the Government endorses it, as doing so will be a major major backdown for them.