The “Three Strikes Bill” Moves Forward
I am cautiously optimistic at today’s announcement that the Sentencing and Parole Reform Bill a.k.a. the “Three Strikes Bill” will be moving forward as part of the government’s legislative program. In my post Three Strikes: Proportion and Protection, which was published in the New Zealand Law Students Association publication LEX, I argued that the “apparent inconsistency” identified by the Attorney General, per his statutory obligation under section 7 of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act on the basis that the Bill affronts the proportionality doctrine, was able to be argued around on the basis that criticisms of the Bill along these lines confuse appropriate force for punishment with defensive force.
Given this, provided the select committee does a good job on assessing submission and making recommendations and parliament carefully considers these we have the potential to finally have much tougher sentences on recidivist offenders of heinous and violent crimes. Regular readers will remember that, as documented in The Deal is Signed: New Zealand Has a New Government, part of the confidence and supply agreement that the National Party made with the ACT Party back in November 08 following New Zealand’s last general election was that National agree to introduce ACT’s “Three Strikes Bill” and support it to Select Committee, so this news was fairly inevitable.
RELATED POSTS:
Three Strikes: Proportion and Protection
Published – Three Strikes: Proportion and Protection
The Deal is Signed: New Zealand Has a New Government
In: Contributors, political, theology
