Law and justice should be synonymous but unfortunately they are not.

For the Christian Democratic Party, the aims of a good justice system are:

to protect the innocent, to punish the guilty, to compensate the victim and to rehabilitate the offender.

They are pretty basic fundamentals and we find it difficult to understand why our justice system has departed so much from them.

There are two major problems that need to be highlighted:

- many of our laws are not harsh enough to provide a just and yet reasonable punishment;

- several of our courts have been infiltrated by judges and magistrates who manage to impose their personal libertarian views through the interpretation of our laws.

This will only become worse if our Parliament enacts a Bill of Rights. A Bill of Rights, by its very nature, expresses itself in very broad concepts and generalised “truths” which can easily be manipulated by the judiciary to fit a particular outcome.

Basically, a Bill of Rights will only give more power to the judiciary and less to Parliament.

Although it is important to maintain a reasonable balance, at this stage, we believe that if anything, Parliament should have more power, rather than less, but of course, this power needs to be exercised appropriately.

The whole concept of automatically reducing sentences by one third is ludicrous and must be abolished.

The Christian Democratic Party supports the introduction of minimum mandatory sentencing to ensure that penalties imposed reflect appropriately the severity of the crime committed.

Judges and magistrates should only be able to use their discretion to impose sentencing above a minimum mandatory level which in turn should reflect community expectations.

All people in authority or engaged in the delivery of important community services, such as teachers, nurses, firemen should be very well protected against assaults and crimes of all sorts. Above average penalties should be imposed on those who attack those in authority or those involved in community services.

The highest penalties should be reserved for attacks against our police officers. They are the men/women who put their lives on the line for us in their delivery of their duties, they deserve not only to be very well paid but also to have the full protection of the law.

Some believe that we should do away with parole altogether. At the CDP, we believe there is a role for parole but some significant changes must be made as to how parole is administered.

The Prisoners Review Board (as it is now called) cannot effectively make sensible parole decisions when there is virtually no resources allocated to the rehabilitation of offenders and to their accommodation arrangements upon release. The Mahoney Report stated that parole should not be seen as a reward for good prison behaviour but rather as an opportunity to rejoin the mainstream of society under guidance and supervision for prisoners deemed unlikely to re-offend. The CDP agrees with this but at the same time acknowledges that unless proper resources are put into rehabilitation, parole orders will continue to fail victims and society.

There is also a strong case to have no parole in cases of certain crimes. The CDP strongly believes in the sanctity of human life and therefore believes that no parole should be granted to murderers. These people should serve a whole of life sentence.

I mentioned the issue of accommodation arrangements for released prisoners. This is a major problem that needs to be tackled urgently together with employment. A system of direct funding to non governmental organisations which provide employment opportunities and resocialisation services for offenders should be established.  We hear also that only 10% of recently released prisoners can be helped by government agencies with regard to their accommodation needs. This is a serious problem, lack of housing and poverty in general are major contributors to crime and unless more suitable short term transitional accommodation is released, we will continue to see many re-offend.

A word also on victim impact statements. If we have parliamentary representation at at the forthcoming State election, we will introduce legislation to ensure that the sentence imposed takes account of the impact of the harm or injury suffered by the victim. This will mean that victim impact statements will have to be more commonly used. Currently, although the courts make some of use of victim impact statements, these statements are generally of poor quality and not highly reliable.

CDP will therefore introduce laws to ensure that the State pays for the costs of obtaining a psychological report from the victim’s treating psychologist, psychiatrist or counsellor in order to obtain a more comprehensive overview of the effects and impact of the offence on the victim’s health, especially mental health.

Much work needs to be done in the area of compensation too. CDP will work for a review of the legislation in this regard. Criminal injuries compensation is an important part of the justice system since restitution is not always possible, particularly as many offenders do not have the financial resources to compensate the victims…. and siblings and foster parents should be considered close relatives and entitled to claim as secondary victims even if they have not seen the offence committed.

In conclusion, substantial changes need to be made to our justice system to ensure that it does deliver justice to the victim and to society overall.

Protection, punishment, compensation and rehabilitation must be the key factors of any reform Parliament has to consider to in this very important area of our society but beyond all that, measures must also be implemented to ensure that we develop a policy of early intervention to prevent the development of criminal subcultures, gangs, violence and family breakdown.

In this regard, CDP acknowledges that poverty, homelessness and drug addiction are significant contributors to lawlessness and that urgent action is required in these areas to prevent any further deterioration in the culture of crime and violence that permeates our State. In particular, the defeatist mind set behind the philosophy of harm minimisation must be denounced and instead policies encouraging changes in personal attitudes and responsibilities should be introduced as there is no such thing as a safe minimum harm level.

In solidarity with earlier WCF Declarations, we define the natural family to rest on the lifelong marriage of a man to a woman, for the purposes of welcoming and nurturing new human life, providing love, companionship, and mutual support, building a home rich in functions, and strengthening the bonds of the generations.

We define ourselves as pro-child. We affirm those social, cultural and legal structures that encourage optimal outcomes for children, in terms of health, learning and later civic engagement. We favour work arrangements that enable parents to spend more time with their children. We understand the biological and social sciences to teach that children predictably do best when raised by their natural parents in a married-couple home.

We affirm that the future of nations rests on families that are spiritually grounded. Religious organizations should be free to uphold their own moral teachings about marriage and family in the public square.

We affirm that the natural family exists prior to the state. Public policies must respect this family autonomy.

We call for sound laws and policies that will:

• support the natural institution of marriage;
• discourage divorce, especially when children would be involved;
• encourage couples that commit themselves to the rearing of children;
• protect the primary right of parents to guide their children’s moral and practical education;
• protect the physical, mental, social and spiritual development of children;
• and guard vulnerable human life, especially at the beginning and end of the life cycle.

This Congress gave special attention to the status of the natural family in developing nations. In this light:

• We affirm intergenerational solidarity. Beyond the immediate circle of mother, father and their children lies the rich tapestry of grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. Urbanization, industrialization, migration, wars, epidemics, and selfish individualism have all weakened extended family bonds. We favor actions that would re-energize this broader family circle as the place where individuals might find help in times of crisis, unemployment, sickness, poverty, old age, and bereavement.
• We raise up the natural family as our solution to poverty. Support to people living in extreme poverty should be given in a family context, wherever possible. We endorse actions that favour family home ownership and micro-enterprises, deliver appropriate vocational training to young men and women, and renew rural economies as rich alternatives to migration to the cities. We view each new child as an asset for the world, a new mind and a new pair of hands.
• We identify declining birthrates as the core demographic problem facing the 21st century. We favor responses that discourage abortion (including sex selective abortion), enable larger and healthier families, and encourage economic growth.
• We respond to the HIV and AIDS pandemic with a program of abstinence, faithfulness and character building through life skills education. We believe that this approach will inspire and reinforce family life in societies, break the cycle of infection, and best serve the interests of children. We also urge special initiatives to improve treatment for victims and to assist orphans and elderly care-givers in rebuilding viable homes.
• And, we call for a family-centered approach to good health: Sexual education should be parent-guided and focus on skills such as self- restraint, relational faithfulness, and the making of responsible choices. Access to pre- and post-natal care should be expanded, including counseling on positive alternatives to abortion, including adoption. Breastfeeding should be promoted as a child-survival strategy.

Adopted this day, 12 August 2009, in the City of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.