Published August 2023, released November 2023

Ara Poutama Aotearoa | Department of Corrections has strengthened its notification policy following an independent review into its community notification and engagement process.

The review made seven recommendations. The Department has accepted all recommendations, and work is already underway to improve the community notification and engagement processes.

"We have expanded our community notification criteria to include more offenders, including adult sex offenders. While our previous notification policy predominantly focused on community notification for people who offended against children, we can now notify for people who have committed sexual offences against adults or general violence assessed with an above average risk for sexual or violent reoffending. Decisions around who and under what circumstances an individual is considered notifiable are complex and assessed on a case-by-case basis. When deciding whether to notify a community, our primary consideration is whether this will enhance public safety and help us further manage an offender’s risk. There are times when it isn’t appropriate for us to carry out a notification, especially if previous offending has happened within a family setting, or the survivors are known within a small community. We must always be confident that any notification will not inadvertently lead to the identification of the victims of crimes and cause them further harm and distress. In making all notification decisions, Corrections staff have to balance this risk with the benefit of providing communities with information. We will now carry out this assessment for a wider range of offence types." (From media release). Record #8416