Source: New Zealand Government
Courts Minister Nicole McKee says the Government is updating the law for the use of audio and audio-visual links (AVL) in courts to improve court performance and create efficiencies across the justice system.
“Timely access to justice matters, and we’re fixing this by pulling every available lever to make the court system more efficient,” says Mrs McKee.
“Remote participation or AVL has the potential to improve court efficiency and make the courts more accessible, but it is not being used consistently.
“The Government will replace the Court (Remote Participation) Act 2010 with a new law that encourages use of remote participation. The Act will be accompanied by Court Rules. These will set out which types of court events will be held by AVL and which events will be held in person, by default.
“For example, in the last year in District Court criminal events, about two-thirds of potential appearances by a person held in custody were held by AVL, but that varied from 96 per cent in some courts down to 19 per cent in others.
“By using technology we can make justice more accessible, consistent, and efficient. But most importantly, we can help ensure victims are better supported and heard.
“The new approach will set default appearance types for particular court events in law. This means court participants – including defendants, victims, lawyers, Police, Corrections, registry staff and judges – will have more certainty about when remote participation should be used and use across courts should be more consistent.
“The Ministry of Justice and the judiciary will work together to develop the Court Rules, which will draw on the considerable work already undertaken by the judiciary in regard to the recently developed remote participation judicial protocols.
“The rules will recognise that when remote participation is appropriate, it should be used. However, judicial officers will be able to depart from this if this better serves the interests of justice in individual cases.
“The new framework will carry over the entitlement, introduced by the Government last year, enabling victims and support people to remotely observe criminal trials and sentencing.
“The law will also introduce new offences and penalties for making and publishing recordings of court proceedings without the court’s permission. Introducing offences will deter this behaviour, which can affect safety and fair trial rights, and enable recordings posted online to be taken down more easily.”
Note to editors: Work on the detailed Court Rules has begun and information about the default settings will be made available for feedback while the Bill is progressing through the parliamentary process next year.
