A legal expert wants cultural reports to be more accessible and says they can have a profound impact on whānau.
Photo: ikiryo/123RF
Section 27 of the Criminal Justice Act states an offender can ask the court to listen to a cultural report outlining factors such as the offender's cultural background, personal circumstances and their family and community.
Victoria university law lecturer Māmari Stephens, who writes cultural reports, wants them to be more accessible for people being sentenced as they can make a profound difference especially for helping whānau and outlining disproportionate factors leading to their offending.
There has been criticism recently of the value of cultural reports, which have increased in total cost to taxpayers from $639,311 in 2019 to $3,299,373 in 2020 according to Ministry of Justice figures.
Critics said the money could be spent on rehabilitation rather than report writing.
Stephens said cultural reports are a form of rehabilitation for both the whānau and the person being sentenced as they can be a form of therapy, understanding and accountability.
"It's not uncommon in my experience for people who are having the reports written about them, for them to look at their own lives with different eyes."
"I think they make a difference. I think they can mark a turning point in a person's life, potentially," Stephens said.
"I think they are most useful for the people in the whānau of the person who is being sentenced, I would like to see pretty much anybody who's at risk of being disproportionately affected by the operations of the criminal justice system be able to access cultural reports," Stephens said.
Māmari Stephens Photo: NZ Festival Writers and Readers
There has been criticism that the money could be spent elsewhere and that the reports are not needed because judges already take mitigating factors into account when handing down a sentence.
Stephens said cultural reports should be more accessible for people being sentenced - but they must be of high quality.
"We've got a whole bunch of people who are carrying out the reports all with different levels of experience, all with different levels of cultural expertise.
"Because they're privately provided but cultural report writers are not part of the Crown apparatus, if you like - unlike a probation officer - there's no way of centrally controlling, accounting for the quality of the reports," Stephens said.
Critics say the exorbitant amounts of money spent on cultural reports is linked to a dysfunctional justice system. They say cultural reports to a degree can be a "money-making exercise".
Stephens said they can be helpful for a whānau in their next steps, however.
"For some it's a real journey of discovery because often in the cultural report writing context, people are disconnected and that in itself is a feature.
"For them to see where they want to go in the future to strengthen or take advantage of the positive cultural legacies that they may have been left with," Stephens said.