Law Commission report, 149, March 2025

Te Aka Matua o te Ture, 149, March 2025

This report concludes that an overhaul of the law governing preventive detention, extended supervision orders and public protection orders is required. The Commission recommends changes to prevent serious sexual and violent reoffending while managing high-risk offenders more humanely.

The report contains 149 recommendations. They include the introduction of a new Act to replace the current law and to bring the fragmented measures into a single, cohesive and coherent regime.

Background to Te Aka Matua o te Ture | Law Commission's Hapori whānui me te tangata mōrea nui: He arotake o te mauhere ārai hē me ngā ōta nō muri whakawhiu | Public safety and serious offenders: A review of preventive detention and post-sentence orders. The review was prompted by findings that the current law was not consistent with international and domestic human rights law. The United Nations Human Rights Committee had found in 2017 that the laws governing preventive detention were in breach of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Domestic courts had held that aspects of ESOs and PPOs are inconsistent with the right not to be punished twice for the same crime under the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990. (From the website). Record #9186