Drug and alcohol court support overdue

Today's announcement of greater support for the drug and alcohol court initiative is overdue, says Labour’s Justice spokesperson Charles Chauvel.

"Therapeutic justice is clearly the way to go when dealing with offenders who are addicted to drugs and/or alcohol", Labour's Justice Spokesperson Charles Chauvel says.

"Successful drug and alcohol courts in the US have shown for a number of years now that this is the right approach, and that it is certainly not a soft option for offenders when it is done properly.

"In our election manifesto last year we called for greater government support for this initiative which, in New Zealand, has been almost entirely judge-driven. Over a year later, it's good to see things finally start to happen, albeit only as a pilot for a day a week in two Auckland region District Courts.

"Congratulations are due to judges like Judge Aitken and Judge Tremewan for their persistent and persuasive advocacy of this approach. The opposition wishes it every success.

"Meanwhile, Judith Collins needs to take urgent action in addressing other problems in the judicial system, especially the 900 jury trial backlog across the District Courts at Auckland and Manukau and the shortage of adequate judicial resourcing in our largest city", Charles Chauvel says.