Corrections is working alongside Police, the Ministry of Justice, the Public Defence Service, Crown Law, and the Courts on a joint initiative to make significant improvements to New Zealand’s criminal district court system.

The Criminal Process Improvement Programme (CPIP) is a cross-sector initiative which aims to reduce the backlog of court cases by making changes across all stages of the court system. It also seeks to identify and address long-standing issues in the courts which cause delays.

The programme has a number of objectives:

  • Addressing delays in defendants’ cases being heard
  • Addressing uncertainty around when to turn up to court, or barriers in attending court
  • Minimising time spent in custody before bail is granted
  • Making better use of jurors’ or other participants’ time
  • Reducing the number of court adjournments at sentencing, which has increased over time and represents a significant waste of court time and resources.

Corrections’ High Impact Innovation Programme (HIIP) is supporting this important work with dedicated programme and change management support. The team is also leading one of the nine key workstreams – Sentencing Stage Best Practice. This workstream will design a new end-to-end cross-sector sentencing process, involving change at Corrections, Police, Courts, and the Ministry of Justice. HIIP is also supporting the initiative with the design of other key workstreams.

The initiative will see Justice Sector agencies work more closely together, with enhanced information sharing so that judges have all the information they need. This will ensure each court event is a meaningful step towards a conclusion for everyone involved. The initiative will also look at the reasons why people don’t turn up to court.

The Criminal Process Improvement Programme will support the implementation of the new vision for the District Court (Te Kōti ā Rohe) - Te Ao Mārama. The Te Ao Mārama vision will see the District Court further its vision of being a place where all people may seek justice, regardless of their means or abilities, their ethnicity, language or culture, and who they are or where they are from.

The work is in its early stages. You can read the CPIP programme plan PDF, 120.3 KB for an overview of the programme and the stages of the criminal justice process that its nine workstreams will look at.

Read more about Te Ao Mārama , the Chief District Court Judge’s transformative vision for the District Court on the District Courts of NZ website.