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Corrections Act 2004

Preliminary provisions

6: Principles guiding corrections system

You could also call this:

"Rules to keep people safe and fair in the corrections system"

When you are in the corrections system, there are some important principles that guide how it works. The corrections system thinks about public safety first when making decisions about people under their control. You also have to think about what is best for the victims of crimes.

The corrections system tries to help people who have committed crimes to stop committing crimes again. They do this by considering the person's cultural background and language when creating programmes to help them. This can include things like planning their sentence and helping them to rehabilitate and reintegrate into the community.

If it is possible and reasonable, the corrections system will try to help offenders make amends with their victims. They will also try to involve the offender's family in decisions about their sentence and rehabilitation. The corrections system must treat people fairly and give them information about the rules and their rights.

The system must also make sure that sentences are not too restrictive, and that offenders have access to activities that can help them rehabilitate. This can include things like programmes to help them reintegrate into the community. The corrections system will try to help accused prisoners to reintegrate into the community too. They will encourage and support contact between prisoners and their families, as long as it is safe and secure.

People who work in the corrections system have to think about these principles when they are making decisions. These principles do not change how other laws work.

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This page was last updated on

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM295299.

Topics:
Crime and justice > Criminal lawCrime and justice > Victim supportGovernment and voting > Government departments
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"What the corrections system is for: keeping you and your community safe and helping offenders rehabilitate."

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"The Minister's jobs and responsibilities in charge of corrections in New Zealand"

Part 1Preliminary provisions

6Principles guiding corrections system

  1. The principles that guide the operation of the corrections system are that—

  2. the maintenance of public safety is the paramount consideration in decisions about the management of persons under control or supervision:
    1. victims' interests must be considered in decisions related to the management of persons under control or supervision:
      1. in order to reduce the risk of reoffending, the cultural background, ethnic identity, and language of offenders must, where appropriate and to the extent practicable within the resources available, be taken into account—
        1. in developing and providing rehabilitative programmes and other interventions intended to effectively assist the rehabilitation and reintegration of offenders into the community; and
          1. in sentence planning and management of offenders:
          2. offenders must, where appropriate and so far as is reasonable and practicable in the circumstances, be provided with access to any process designed to promote restorative justice between offenders and victims:
            1. an offender's family must, so far as is reasonable and practicable in the circumstances and within the resources available, be recognised and involved in—
              1. decisions related to sentence planning and management, and the rehabilitation and reintegration of the offender into the community; and
                1. planning for participation by the offender in programmes, services, and activities in the course of his or her sentence:
                2. the corrections system must ensure the fair treatment of persons under control or supervision by—
                  1. providing those persons with information about the rules, obligations, and entitlements that affect them; and
                    1. ensuring that decisions about those persons are taken in a fair and reasonable way and that those persons have access to an effective complaints procedure:
                    2. sentences and orders must not be administered more restrictively than is reasonably necessary to ensure the maintenance of the law and the safety of the public, corrections staff, and persons under control or supervision:
                      1. offenders must, so far as is reasonable and practicable in the circumstances within the resources available, be given access to activities that may contribute to their rehabilitation and reintegration into the community:
                        1. accused prisoners may, so far as is reasonable and practicable in the circumstances within the resources available, be given access to activities including non-offence-based programmes to assist with their successful reintegration into the community:
                          1. contact between prisoners and their families must be encouraged and supported, so far as is reasonable and practicable and within the resources available, and to the extent that this contact is consistent with the maintenance of safety and security requirements.

                            1. Persons who exercise powers and duties under this Act or any regulations made under this Act must take into account those principles set out in subsection (1) that are applicable (if any), so far as is practicable in the circumstances.

                            2. Subsection (1) does not affect the application or operation of any other Act.

                            Notes
                            • Section 6(1)(ha): inserted, on , by section 7 of the Corrections Amendment Act 2024 (2024 No 41).