NMA Calls For Public Access to Parole Board Hearings

Public access should be allowed at Parole Board hearings in order to improve transparency around the system and scrutiny of the judicial process, the News Media Association has said.  

In a submission to the Ministry of Justice consultation ‘Reconsideration of Parole Board decisions: creating a new and open system,’ the NMA said Parole Board decisions “go to the heart of crucial questions about liberty and public safety” and should be more transparent in order to boost public confidence in the system.

Launched earlier this year, the consultation is looking at ways to make the Parole Board more transparent and introduce a process to allow decisions to be reconsidered without interested parties being forced to resort to judicial review.  

“Public access should be allowed at every hearing where it would not frustrate the function of the hearing. It should be approached as the presumption,” the NMA said.   

“Where the hearing cannot be in public, a transcript of the hearing with necessary redactions should be made available as soon as possible after the hearing, without charge.  This would allow for transparency while allowing victims to be protected in instances where a full public hearing would significantly violate their privacy or cause them to self-censor their evidence.”

The NMA said it strongly supported a proposal in the consultation which would allow any individual, including journalists and media outlets, to submit an application to trigger the process for reconsideration of a decision taken by the Parole Board  

“This would assist the media in performing its function as public watchdog and would allow any interested party to flag concerns with a given decision,” the NMA added.    

The NMA concluded: “The decisions of the Parole Board are an extended function of the criminal justice system, and these particular types of decision go to the heart of crucial questions about liberty and public safety.  They involve the same key principles that judges must consider when initially sentencing an offender.

“Including these decisions within the scope of the reconsideration mechanism is necessary to protect the public and offenders alike, as well as improving confidence in the system and the Board, and the process should uphold open justice at every possible stage.”