Justice Minister Andrew Little has revealed the first steps in fixing the country's broken criminal justice system.
Little is planning a Criminal Justice Summit- Hāpaitia Te Oranga Tangata, next month.
"Real change means we have to do things differently. The summit provides a start to honest conversations as a country, supported by real evidence. The summit will bring together victims, victims’ advocates, front-line workers with different backgrounds and experience in the criminal justice system, and experts in criminal justice," says Little.
"Hāpaitia Te Oranga Tangata is about having the guts to look honestly at our slide towards an American-style justice system, and fixing things."
The Justice Minister also announced the establishment of a specialist advisory group, the Safe and Effective Justice Programme Advisory Group - Te Uepū Hāpai i te Ora, to work alongside justice sector agencies for effective criminal justice reform.
The advisory group will bring together people with practical working experience of the realities of the criminal justice system.
Little says, "New Zealand needs less offending, less re-offending, and fewer victims of crime. We can’t continue to have one of the highest re-offending rates in the OECD."