The Commission's Report, Compensating Crime Victims (R126), favours the alignment of the regimes for enforcement of reparation orders that exist for District Courts and the High Court, and that are contained in the Summary Proceedings Act 1957 and the Crimes Act 1961, respectively. The Government has recently decided to amend the law so that these regimes are consistent, which the Commission supports.
The Commission also recommends that the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act 2009 be amended so that prosecutors may obtain a restraining order preventing a defendant from dissipating his or her assets prior to an order for reparation being made in favour of any victims. In order to ensure such restraining orders are cost-effective, the Commission recommends they be available only where the victim has suffered loss or damage of at least $20,000 and the usual costs of restraining property of the type involved are less that the value of the property itself.
