ABSTRACT
Given that intimate partner violence (IPV) is a pattern of harm, it is important that sentencing judges who are responding to IPV offences consider the victim’s ongoing safety needs. New Zealand is an example of a jurisdiction that takes a traditional approach to criminal sentencing. This chapter points out that victim safety is not an express or mandatory sentencing consideration under this approach and, furthermore, that the decision making process adopted for sentencing makes it difficult to even consider the victim’s ongoing safety concerns. Furthermore, the process of factual proof at sentencing, combined with the nature of IPV, means that sentencing judges are not equipped to make informed safety decisions. The traditional approach to sentencing (as exemplified in New Zealand) therefore represents the waste of the opportunity provided by a sentencing intervention to address the ongoing safety issues likely to be experienced by IPV victims. The chapter calls for a shift in the paradigm that currently underlies the criminal justice process in relation to IPV offending.
