Cultural Reports a huge help for offenders, whanau
A legal expert wants cultural reports to be more accessible for people being sentenced -- but they must be of high quality. According to Ministry of Justice figures, there has been a significant increase in the amount spent on the reports - from $640,000 in 2019 to $3.3million in 2020. A cultural, or Section 27, report outlines the offender's background, delving into the person's whakapapa and upbringing and explains how that may relate to their offending. There has been criticism of the cost, and that the reports aren't needed because judges already take mitigating factors into account when handing down a sentence. But law academic and cultural report writer at Victoria University of Wellington, Mamari Stephens, says that is not the case and the reports can have a huge impact whanau. She speaks to Māni Dunlop.