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A campaign to inform victims of their newly acquired legal rights was launched yesterday.
"The Victims' Rights Act came into force in mid December 2002 and guarantees a wide range of new rights for victims. The challenge now is to ensure that victims are informed of the rights available to them," Justice Minister Phil Goff said.
Wairarapa MP Georgina Beyer said education was now critical to the success of the Act.
"We need to ensure that government departments and agencies are aware of their responsibilities to victims under the new law. Pamphlets and posters outlining the new rights for victims will be circulated to Citizens' Advice Bureaus, police stations, Community Law Centres, courts, hospitals, local iwi, doctors' clinics and Victim Support offices.
"These rights did not exist in the past because previous Governments did not see them as necessary. This legislation rectifies that," Ms Beyer said.
New rights for victims include:
- Victims must be kept informed of progress in the case against the accused/offender
- Information for preparing a Victim Impact Statement must be sought from all victims
- The range of offences under which victims may join a victim notification system has been extended. Those who have registered with the victim notification system are automatically informed of New Zealand Parole Board hearings involving consideration of the home detention, parole or release of the offender.
- All victims are entitled to make written submissions to the New Zealand Parole Board
- Where the Parole Board holds an attended hearing, victims who are registered with the victim notification system are entitled to appear to make submissions and other victims may, with the leave of the board, appear. Victims may also seek a pre-hearing interview with a board member when the parole hearing is to be unattended
- The court is required to take the views of victims into account when making a decision on final name suppression
Contact: Jayne Wallis (04) 471 9304 or jayne.wallis@parliament.govt.nz
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