Bail laws tightened

The Bail Amendment Bill has passed its third reading in Parliament this morning; the Beehive website reports:

A Bill that makes it harder for serious offenders to get bail has passed its third and final reading in Parliament today.
Justice Minister Judith Collins says the Bail Amendment Bill delivers this Government’s commitment to review aspects of the bail system to improve New Zealanders’ safety.
“This Government promised it would review our bail laws to make New Zealand safer and protect the public,” Ms Collins says.
“The Bail Amendment Bill delivers our commitment to putting victims at the heart of our criminal justice system.”
Changes to bail laws include:

• increasing the number of situations where a defendant will be subject to a reverse burden of proof in bail decisions.  A reverse burden of proof means that the defendant has to prove that he or she should be released on bail, rather than the prosecutor proving that the defendant should not be released on bail.
• young defendants aged 17 will now be subject to the standard test for bail if they have previously been sentenced to imprisonment.  All defendants aged 18 and 19 will now be subject to the standard test for bail.
• new powers to deal with defendants under 17 years of age who breach their bail conditions.  Police will be able to arrest a young defendant who repeatedly breaches their bail conditions. 
• legislating the electronically monitored bail regime to ensure consistent practices in courts across New Zealand.

Ms Collins says the Bill strikes the right balance between public safety and a defendant’s right to be considered innocent until proven guilty.

This is a sensible and pragmatic change to the previous bail law where the onus of proof was on the Crown to prove that a defendant should not be released on bail. 

TVNZ highlights some of the cases where a reverse burden of proof may have saved a life:

The Bail Amendment Bill follows emotional pleas from the public, in the wake of some horrific deaths caused by criminals out on bail.

This includes: Auckland 18-year-old Christie Marceau, who was stabbed to death by Akshay Anand Chand in December 2011 while he was awaiting trial for kidnapping her a month earlier; Christchurch woman Vanessa Pickering, murdered by Malcolm Chaston while he was on bail for assaulting another woman in February 2010; Secondary school student Augustine Borrell was stabbed to death in 2007 by Haiden Davis, who was on bail for another violent crime; Michael Curran killed toddler Aaliyah Morrissey after he was granted bail by a High Court judge.
Ms Collins said the Borrell's experience was taken into account in the law change.
She said the work on bail changes began before Ms Marceau was killed, but her family and their supporters' submissions to the select committee were also considered.

It is pleasing to see that this Bill had widespread, bipartisan support, and passed by 102 votes to 19. Only the Green Party, Maori Party and Mana Party voted against toughening bail laws, along with "independent" List MP Brendan Horan; you can make your own assumptions from that. However the overwhelming majority of MP's in Parliament have today made it tougher for violent, dangerous offenders to get bail so that they can go out an reoffend.

We congratulate Judith Collins for listening to the submissions she has received , and for steering this legislation through, albeit slowly. And we commend those MP's who have today made New Zealand a safer place.