Simon Power

By Maggie Tait of NZPA

Wellington, June 3 NZPA - Over the next year Justice Minister Simon Power intends to make major changes to the criminal justice system.

He appeared before Parliament's justice and electoral select committee today.

"I am very committed to a programme and agenda of reform in the criminal justice area," Mr Key told MPs.

"The areas of liquor, criminal simplification and legal aid are going to be the three main big pieces of work I have bitten off for the year ahead and they will make big changes to the way the criminal justice system runs."

He will also look at how inquisitorial models work in Europe as an alternative model for how sex assault victims and children were treated by the justice system.

Mr Power said when Parliament recently changed the law so defendants could not argue they were provoked into killing someone it became clear to him that some victims were not being treated well.

"Children who are forced to give explanations 12 or 18 months later about something that occurred when they were five or six-years-old under cross examination -- that can't be, in the long term, a satisfactory way for those people to engage with the criminal justice system," he said.

A child could not be expected to explain in cross examination so long after the incident whether they stood by their claim, what was going through their mind; and details like "what time did this person come into your bedroom, that is not a satisfactory way for the criminal justice system to deal with those individuals".

He also thought women sex victims should not have to relive offences against them under cross examination and that needed "serious improvement".

The idea of children being interviewed by qualified experts rather than judges or lawyers was also worth considering, Mr Power said.

"I am determined over the next 12 months to look very closely at these issues, just because it's the way it's always been done does not mean that is the only answer for us in future."

Mr Power said simplification of the criminal justice system would include looking at what point a defendant could elect to have a jury trial, what should happen when people didn't show up in court and having lawyers agree early on what the key issues were.

He gave an example using Labour MP David Parker, with whom Mr Power had just had a verbal stoush over three strikes.

"So for example we don't get this situation where we have pleadings in the alternative so if the question before the court is whether Mr Parker assaulted me or not, verbally or otherwise, the tendency to plead along the lines of well he wasn't in the room when the assault occurred, and if he was in the room he was provoked and if he was provoked x, y and z and you end up with three sets of alternatives... we could simply say 'did Mr Parker allegedly assault Mr Power or not?' Just cut to the chase."

Mr Power said the changes he was considering were big and he would talk to the legal profession before pushing ahead.

Other changes in progress were using computers more and reducing reliance on paper files, and using audio visual links for hearings.

Mr Parker was worried this would see defendants lose their right to confront their accuser but Mr Power said there was no rights' breach and it was likely to largely be used for procedural matters, not the main hearing.

Transporting notorious killer, Graeme Burton, to Wellington from Paremoremo and back for two court appearances in early 2007 cost $14,000.

"There's got to be a better way of doing it than that."