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Bill to support victims of legally insane offenders passes first reading

Author
Newstalk ZB,
Publish Date
Fri, 3 Jul 2020, 3:20PM
Photo / File
Photo / File

Bill to support victims of legally insane offenders passes first reading

Author
Newstalk ZB,
Publish Date
Fri, 3 Jul 2020, 3:20PM

There are hopes a Bill to better support victims of legally insane offenders will pass into law quickly - now that its passed its first reading.

The Bill seeks to rename the verdict of "not guilty on account of insanity" to "the acts or omissions are proven but the defendant is not criminally responsible on account of insanity."

Victim Support research and advocacy spokesperson, Petrina Hargrave, told Kate Hawkesby around 10 people a year are deemed not guilty on account of insanity.

She says there are at least more than 20 victims for every case - so there are hundreds of New Zealanders right now who are affected by the Bill.

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