NZ HERALD 18 MAY 2014: THE REAL COST OF CUT-PRICE JUSTICE

Special investigation: Crown prosecutors are cutting costs by adopting American-style plea bargains, allowing criminals to plead guilty to less serious charges. It saves the taxpayer the cost of length trials and jail sentences — but, asks Amy Maas, at what risk to the public? Standing in the dock this week, Matthew Tia looked solemn. "I knew I was skating on thin ice," he says. He didn't know what his sentence would be — but he did know he was going to get off more lightly than the seven years in prison he initially faced. Six months earlier on November 19, a man had nicked Tia's girlfriend's wallet. Tia retaliated by beating the man so severely in an Auckland takeaway shop that he left his victim lying unconscious in his own blood. Tia fled. When he turned himself in to police he was charged with wounding with intent to injure. If he had been found guilty he could have spent up to seven years in prison. Tia has form: as a young member of the local Crips gang in 2007, he had been convicted of aggravated robbery and grievous bodily harm. "The police got [the victim's] story before mine and what they found on the system about me gave them this perception of me as a monster in the community," Tia complains. He tells the Herald on Sunday that he was prepared to defend himself. But just six days after the attack, a Crown prosecutor from Auckland law firm Meredith Connell offered to downgrade his charge to avoid a trial. Tia took the easy way out and pleaded guilty to the lesser charge. The new charge was amended to injuring with intent, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in jail. In Auckland District Court on Wednesday, Tia was sentenced to 10 months' home detention. "I wouldn't have been surprised if I did [go to jail] considering my history. I was skating on thin ice; however, the judge saw my genuine effort to change," he says. "It is still an everyday battle, but I guess I'm still tipping the balance in my favour." The scales of justice will continue to tip in the favour of criminals with budget cuts and changes to the Criminal Procedure Act allowing profit-driven law firms like Meredith Connell to bypass the courts and negotiate quick and easy American-style plea bargains. This can give criminals the option of pleading guilty to less serious charges so the Crown can avoid the cost of going to trial. The change saves taxpayers court costs, and can save criminals like Tia jail time. That suits Tia, who sees himself as an aggrieved party trying to put his violent past behind him — but victims of crime and the wider public may be less sympathetic. Labour justice spokesman Andrew Little calls it cut-price justice. "The reality of justice is that it does cost, that's the cost of law and order in society. We have rules, we have laws, they have to be enforced and they have a cost to that." "I don't think it's good for offenders who have to face up to the reality of their offending or for society who want to know people who commit offences are being properly held to account." READ MORE AT: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11256874