Service Performance: Output Class 2- Community-based Sentences and Orders

This output class provides for the management and delivery of community-based sentences and orders through sentence management and sentence compliance services. Included as part of these are the sentences of supervision and community work and orders such as home detention, parole, post-release conditions and extended supervision for serious child-sex offenders.

The services provided meet the terms of judicial decisions on sentences in each case, and also provide opportunities for offenders to acknowledge their responsibilities and address offending behaviour.

It provided for 40,549 new sentences and orders in the 2004/05 financial year.

OUTPUT CLASS STATEMENT: COMMUNITY-BASED SENTENCES AND ORDERS

For the Year Ended 30 June 2005

OUTPUT 2.1 Supervision

This output ensures that offenders sentenced to supervision report regularly to their Probation Officer and, if ordered by the court, fulfil special conditions that will address the reasons for their offending. Supervision may include in-depth, focused interventions such as rehabilitation or reintegration programmes or counselling.

Comment
This measure is influenced by rates of arrests and decisions of the judiciary. The number of supervision sentences was marginally in excess of planned levels for the financial year.

The percentage of offenders who complied with the special conditions imposed as part of their supervision sentence continued in excess of the standard over the financial year. Compliance is influenced by a wide range of variables that are not quantified easily and it is difficult to attribute the impact of any one particular factor to the overall positive result.

OUTPUT 2.2 Community Work

This output ensures that an offender sentenced to community work completes the sentenced number of hours work within the community. It provides for reparation to the community. The type of community work that can be performed is specified in the Sentencing Act 2002.

Comment
This measure is influenced by rates of arrests and decisions of the judiciary and is outside the Department’s control. Notwithstanding, the number of community work sentences was marginally below planned levels for the financial year.

The percentage of offenders who successfully completed a community work sentence was in excess of the standard for the financial year. Completion rates are influenced by a wide range of variables, which are not easily quantified, and thus it is difficult to attribute the impact of any one particular factor to the overall positive result.

OUTPUT 2.3 Home Detention Orders

This output entails administering home detention orders imposed by the New Zealand Parole Board. Under the conditions of these orders, the offender resides at home under strict conditions and with strict monitoring of those conditions. Offenders may be required to undertake a rehabilitation or reintegration programme or counselling that addresses their offending.

Comment
Volumes are determined by the decisions of the courts and the New Zealand Parole Board and are not directly controlled by the Department. There was a general decline in the monthly number of home detention new starts throughout the year. The volume of home detention reports was also lower than planned. Both results are considered to be due to the changes introduced in the Parole (Extended Supervision) Amendment Act 2004.

The percentage of offenders with sentence plans to address rehabilitative or employment needs remained consistent throughout the latter part of the year. There was still, however, a consistent percentage of offenders on short sentences (less than one month), which does not easily allow for employment or rehabilitative needs to be addressed. The measure has been replaced by two more pertinent measures, relating to absconding and compliance with special conditions, in the 2005/06 Statement of Intent.

OUTPUT 2.4 Parole Orders

This output entails administering an order imposed by the New Zealand Parole Board, which is administered by a Probation Officer. It includes a Probation Officer meeting regularly and working closely with an offender subject to a parole order, and ensuring that special conditions imposed by the Board are fulfilled.

Comment
Volumes are determined by the decisions made by the New Zealand Parole Board, and are not directly controlled by the Department.

The percentage of offenders who comply with the special conditions imposed as part of their order continued in excess of the standard over the financial year. Compliance is influenced by a wide range of variables, which are not easily quantified, and thus it is difficult to attribute the impact of any one particular factor to the overall positive result.

OUTPUT 2.5 Orders for Post-Release Conditions

This output entails administering post-release conditions for prisoners with short sentences, as imposed by the judiciary at the time of sentencing, and administered by a Probation Officer.

Comment
Total average prison receptions have increased per month since the introduction of the Sentencing Act 2002. A significant proportion of these additional receptions are prisoners sentenced to short sentences (those serving less than two years). This trend in sentencing has had a direct impact on the number of prisoners eligible for and subsequently released into the community on post-release conditions, with the full year result being 19 percent in excess of planned levels.

The positive higher rate of compliance with conditions has been evident throughout the year. Compliance is influenced by a wide range of variables, including the different conditions imposed by the judiciary, which are not easily quantified, and thus it is difficult to attribute the impact of any one particular factor to the overall positive result.

OUTPUT 2.6 Extended Supervision Orders

This output entails the administering of an order imposed by the court, with conditions set by the New Zealand Parole Board to actively manage the long-term risks posed by high-risk child-sex offenders in the community. The order can apply for up to 10 years following a finite term of imprisonment and is administered by a Probation Officer.

Comment
The number of offenders commencing an extended supervision order has been below expectations due to fewer applications than anticipated, defended hearings, and hearings delayed due to counsel requesting independent psychological assessments.

As at 30 June 2005, the courts had ordered 30 offenders to commence extended supervision orders – 24 for the maximum 10-year term, one for a term of eight years and six months, one for a seven-year term, two for a five-year term and two for two-year terms. Of these offenders, 21 commenced an extended supervision order, although the number of offenders subject to an order as at 30 June 2005 (19) does not include two offenders whose orders have been suspended due to imprisonment.

1  Ministerial approval was received to revise this performance standard from 86.

2  Ministerial approval was received to revise this performance standard from 86.

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