Justice sector agencies – the Ministry of Justice, Department of Corrections, NZ Police, Serious Fraud Office, Crown Law and Ministry of Social Development (for youth justice) – have worked together to reduce crime and numbers in the ‘criminal justice pipeline’. Recently, this collaboration has been formalised with the establishment of a Justice Sector Leadership Board comprising the Chief Executives of the Ministry of Justice, NZ Police, and the Department of Corrections, to drive performance across the pipeline and to deliver sector targets.
Success to date and lower numbers in the justice pipeline provide the opportunity to do more of what works; and to unlock fixed costs, simplify processes and shift resources to crime prevention and front-end services. Each agency has substantial change programmes underway to improve public safety and deliver more modern and accessible justice services.
The Minister of Justice and the Chief Executive of the Ministry of Justice hold lead accountability for delivering these results. The Leadership Board provides the mechanism for focusing resources across the sector; and the new Justice Sector Fund, which allows savings to be transferred between agencies and across years, means money can be invested to best effect. The Leadership Board also supports collaboration between the justice sector and wider social sector agencies.
We will target resources to what we know works: addressing the drivers of crime; crime prevention; addressing offenders’ problems; and stopping the escalation of criminal behaviour from low-level to more serious offending, and from youth to adult offending.
This Better Public Services action plan includes new actions, as well as expanding what works now. It highlights the critical few initiatives we will take, and will be put in place alongside longer-term initiatives to address the drivers of crime.