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The Sensible Sentencing Trust (SST) is calling on the Government to refresh its recent coward punch law announcement with meaningful reform, as has been achieved in multiple Australian states, “rather than a tough-sounding headline with no actual teeth”.
SST national spokesperson Louise Parsons says: “While we welcome the Government’s willingness to address the broad issue, the proposal to introduce a new coward punch law is little more than a name change from ‘manslaughter’ to ‘coward’s punch’ with no change to sentencing requirements.
“The maximum sentence for both is ‘life’, which is of course never imposed.
“It’s the sentence that matters, not what it’s called, and not what the irrelevant maximum sentence is.
“The glaring omission in the recent announcement is the failure to propose a robust minimum non-parole sentence, which the Sensible Sentencing Trust recommends as eight years, for these appalling cases of violence causing death.
“Sentencing for these types of offences in New Zealand is far lower than similar jurisdictions, such as Victoria and New South Wales in Australia.
“Even in Victoria, sentences of nine to 10-and-a-half years for such killings are common, with minimum non parole periods of six to 10 years.
“In New Zealand, home detention is all too common for these killings. Even in the worst cases, sentences rarely exceed four years’ imprisonment.”
Parsons says “appallingly low sentences” are imposed for almost all manslaughter sentences, often resulting in home detention or at best a headline sentence of two to four years, with parole available after a matter of months.
“All for the violent killing of another human being.
“Surely life in New Zealand must be worth more. The victims and their families are the ones who pay with a lifetime of loss and grief.
“The offender walks away after serving a few months in prison – if they are unlucky.
“We call on the Government to refresh their proposal with a robust law to strengthen sentencing for manslaughter in these and other cases of appalling violence.”
