By Chantelle Van Vuuren

For many, sentences of home detention stoke disappointment in Aotearoa New Zealand's criminal justice system, with some New Zealanders growing increasingly disgruntled; frustrated at an approach to crime they perceive as soft or lightyears from a punishment they would view to be justified. Consequently, it has never been more vital to highlight why home detention sentences occur and their value as an alternative to incarceration, particularly if ambitions of rehabilitating and reintegrating offenders into society are ever truly achieved.

 

 

Why Judges Impose Sentences of Home Detention

 

The sentence hierarchy in Aotearoa dictates that home detention sits beneath incarceration as a sentence of the highest severity but above other community-based sentences, such as community detention and intensive supervision. Consequently, home detention is a punitive and severe sentence and is one of the most restrictive sentences on a person’s liberties, only behind imprisonment. The sentence is restrictive because offenders are confined to an approved residence and undergo consistent electronic monitoring. There are restrictions on absences from the residence, and offenders must stay in contact with a probation officer. The Sentencing Act 2002 sets out conditions for home detention, such as that a home detention sentence cannot extend beyond 12 months or be served for fewer than 14 days. Home detention is intended as a sentence for offenders who would have otherwise been sentenced to an imprisonment term of two years or less. These people are typically first-time offenders committing less serious crimes who pose less risk to social cohesion and public safety. Ultimately, the sentence serves as an alternative to incarceration for less severe offences.

 

 

Home Detention as an Effective Alternative to Incarceration

 

Within the developed world, New Zealand has significantly high incarceration rates, which is neither economically nor morally sustainable. There are significant problems with imprisonment, such as that incarceration spurs the loss of community, employment, and social networks. Prison can also provide a breeding ground for offenders to learn more about the intricate nature of criminal behaviour and organised crime groups, which encourages re-offending as offenders are exposed to hardened criminals within prisons.

 

Fortunately, home detention is an effective alternative sentence to imprisonment and can curb many of the issues incarceration poses. Home detention preserves relationships, can enable offenders to continue to work, and keeps vulnerable offenders, such as young people and first-time offenders, outside of the realm of the influence of prison. The maintenance or obtaining of employment, aided by probation officers, while serving a home detention sentence can help reintegrate offenders into the community. This highlights a key advantage of home detention as an alternative to imprisonment, which removes offenders from society who then face significant barriers to finding employment when they are released due to the stigma attached to a criminal conviction. Home detention provides an opportunity for people to get their lives back on track by ensuring they are connected to opportunities for employment and counselling, and can maintain social connections, all of which assist in rehabilitation. Many can keep working during a home detention sentence and are still contributing to society through paying taxes and finding value in employment. This allows offenders to stay engaged with their community as opposed to being exiled in prison.  

 

Furthermore, home detention is a favourable alternative to imprisonment, beyond advantages such as being cost-effective punishment instead of incarceration, as it also provides effective punishment through high compliance and low recidivism rates. Home detention has high rates of compliance due to offenders understanding that if they re-offend or breach their home detention sentence, there is an increased likelihood that they will face imprisonment. Additionally, among the other community-based sentences, home detention boasts the lowest reconviction rate, with reconvictions often being due to offenders breaching home detention rather than other criminal wrongdoing.

 

In conjunction with their home detention sentences, offenders can be required to take steps to address their offending and its causes. This process, which reflects another benefit of home detention, can involve completing relevant programs to assist in rehabilitation and reintegration, such as ones targeting drug and alcohol abuse or violence prevention. There is an increased likelihood for people to participate in programs when on home detention due to their limited opportunities to leave home. Moreover, non-compliance of offenders of their home detention sentences or conditions does not go unpunished and can result in sanctions such as fines or imprisonment. Such safeguards for breaches of home detention sentences can restore and maintain public confidence in these sentences as effective alternatives to imprisonment.

 

 

Conclusion

 

Ultimately, where a home detention sentence is not manifestly inadequate, it can serve as a cost-effective, society-enhancing alternative to incarceration. Home detention has both punitive and rehabilitative purposes and enables more effective reintegration of offenders while also serving as a remedy to overcrowding in prison. Additionally, the purposes of the Sentencing Act 2002 focus on offender accountability, deterrence, and rehabilitation. Consequently, home detention can be utilised as a sentence that strives for the deterrence and accountability of an offender while also posing the opportunity to enable rigorous rehabilitation. Members of the public are often quick to call for sentences of imprisonment without knowledge of the critical consideration that the court is required to impose a sentence that, as appropriate in a given circumstance, inflicts the least restrictions on an offender, with prison ultimately serving as a final resort. Not only is this important from a legal perspective, but it is also significant to bear in mind in order to produce a society where we do not turn our backs on wrongdoers. Ultimately, home detention helps us pave the path towards rehabilitating and reintegrating offenders so they can do better in the future. 

 

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