Last Chance Saloon

Hoping For the Best;  Preparing for the Worst

A case has been profiled recently which (indirectly) underscores the wisdom and justice of New Zealand's Three Strike sentencing system.  

It provides a startling profile of a relentless, committed criminal.

A Judge has given a last chance for high-risk offender who has been jailed 14 times since 2000.

Marty Sharpe
Stuff

He has spent 15.7 years in prison since 2000.  His shortest period on the outside was four days; his longest was seven months. His average was about nine weeks.  He has violently assaulted family members, partners, police officers and fellow inmates.

Former prisoner Billy McFarlane, who runs the Puwhakamua Programme for high-risk offenders, told the judge he believed Maney was ready to change.   When 38-year-old Jason Maney was this month sentenced for causing grievous bodily harm to his mum, the Crown wanted him given an indeterminate sentence of preventive detention, meaning he could only be released on parole if he showed he was willing to change.

And Justice Timothy Brewer gave it some serious thought, remarking that Maney's history meant he had a tendency to reoffend.  He recounted Maney's latest offending, involving three to four  blows to his mother's head in August 2016. He fractured her eye socket and nose.   The judge also recounted his long record of violent offending and noted that multiple prison sentences had done nothing to deter him.

Maney was assessed as having a high risk of reoffending, with a psychologist noting he had been incarcerated in 11 prisons on 14 occasions.  "In total Mr Maney has spent 5743 days or 15.7 years in prison since 2000," the psychologist said.  A second psychologist said significant resources and specialist treatment was needed to modify his risk.

Justice Brewer noted Maney had failed to participate in any rehabilitative programmes.  But there was one programme that looked like it could work for him, the judge said.  It was the Puwhakamua Programme run by former prisoner Billy McFarlane, who told the judge he believed Maney was ready to change.  Justice Brewer said Maney had shown a recent improvement in prison, and he trusted McFarlane and his year-long programme would be able to mitigate his risk.

"I do not underestimate how hard it is for a 38-year-old man to make real change. But you are also an intelligent man. You know I am giving you a last chance," the judge said.  He sentenced him to three years and 10 months in jail. With time served, Maney will likely be released in about a year.

On Thursday McFarlane, of Rotorua, said he was "really confident" Maney would change his ways.  "He's ready for change. If I didn't have complete confidence in him I wouldn't have worked through all this. I'd have told him he wasn't ready," McFarlane said.  "I think Jason is going to be one of those who we later say 'that's what we're talking about, that's what the programme is all about'.

"Like all the other men who have walked Jason's path, what they're lacking is love. That's what we're about," he said.  McFarlane said he had spoken to Maney on numerous occasions and had started mentoring him, but he could not commence the programme until he left prison.  "Now that we know he's crying out for change and that the court's allowed that change to happen, we have to make sure the pathways allow that to happen and that nothing over the next 12 months in prison affects that," McFarlane said.

Puwhakamua "uses a full cultural programme to teach these men their identity, and their roles and responsibilities in society".  The programme had been running since May last year. Six men had been through the full programme and 10 were on it currently.

Maney is on his "Second Strike".  If he offends again, he will get a maximum sentence, with no parole.  Mr McFarlane is sticking his neck out for Maney.  Well and good.  But it is good to have the solid backup of a Third Strike sentence if Maney were to fail.  We ought to hope for the best whilst preparing for the worst.