Approach to Managing Offenders

In accordance with the purpose and principles guiding the corrections system and with the aim of achieving the Department's outcomes, the Department manages offenders through an integrated approach that applies across all sentence types, sentence lengths and locations.

When offenders enter the corrections system, there is a process to guide what happens to them during their sentence, how their needs are identified and managed and what follow-up support is required once they have finished the sentence. The offender management process is illustrated by the following diagram.

TABLE 3: Offender Management Process

View larger version of  Table 3: Offender Management Process (jpg: 60KB)

The integrated approach to the management of offenders is underpinned by tools for assessing an offender's risk of re-offending and their particular criminogenic needs. For higher-risk offenders, needs are closely matched with interventions that focus on rehabilitation. For lower-risk offenders, reintegration into the community is the key element of an approach designed to support a transition to a crime-free lifestyle.

Further details of the Department's approach to managing offenders are available on the Department's website, www.corrections.govt.nz.