Cook Islands - Pacific Prevention of Domestic Violence Programme

Cook Islands
Number of offenders being held accountable for their actions
Statistics on conviction rates and sentencing were not available during my visit. Anecdotal
evidence was inconsistent. On the one hand, there was the view that most cases do not reach
this stage.
Most cases are thrown out of court. This is because of our lack of experience in dealing
with victims. Things they don’t tell us come up in court and the cases are thrown out.
This is a training issue.
Others felt that the conviction rate was acceptable, but that sentences did little to promote
offender accountability.
If the victim says ‘We’re okay now; or he is the breadwinner’, and so on, the Courts
will discharge him or suspend the sentence. It doesn’t show the responsibility of the
offender. I would prefer to have them convicted and discharged or fined. Then there is
notice on him; something to show that he’s like this.
The penalties show no accountability. In those cases [that go to court], prosecution has
no effect. There is a good conviction rate, but most offenders are discharged without
conviction.
The interviews revealed a tension between holding offenders accountable through sentencing
options and the possibility that this could result in further injustice to the victim or family.
Offenders are not taken to Court; they’re dealt with at home or in the office. We do this
for the welfare of the family and the children. How would the family cope without the
father when he is the main breadwinner?
Some Police Officers expressed frustration with inconsistent and lenient decisions made by
the Courts, particularly in respect of repeat offenders.
Discussion
Most come to court time and again. We tell the Court this is their fifth or sixth time
here and advise jail for deterrence, but the Court is mostly lenient.
The Court has started putting offenders on a probation period of good behaviour. They
give a suspended sentence and if they reoffend, the first offence is counted. The Courts
are not always consistent; it depends on the JP. Even when there are convictions they
are not always consistent; sometimes the sentences are too lenient. Inconsistent
decisions and penalties feed back to victims. They’re not happy about it.
Anecdotal evidence indicates that levels of case withdrawal are high and prosecutions are
low. Overall, the notion of offender accountability was underdeveloped (also see discussion
on Police attitudes and perceptions of domestic violence.). This is not solely attributable to
Police actions, but it does have wider implications, for example, in respect of community
perceptions of whether the criminal justice system is an effective means of dealing with
domestic violence. The views of some magistrates and community stakeholders on case
attrition and sentencing are summarised in Box 1.
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