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Karl Kuchenbecker - Source: ONE News -
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The families of two victims of crime are suing the police, probation and the Corrections Department for negligence.
Karl Kuchenbecker was shot and killed three years ago by parolee Graham Burton, and Debbie Ashton was killed by a speeding driver also on parole.
Garth McVicar of the Sensible Sentencing Trust, is representing the Kuchenbeckers and says accountability needs to be brought back into a system which "doesn't know the word of it".
"For the families involved, it's not just another person, its their loved one and they want someone held accountable," he says.
"Everyone knew that Burton wasn't behaving himself out on the street, but nobody did anything about it."
Enquires and reports into these deaths have been plentiful, says McVicar.
"But until we get some accountability back into the system, we are not going to see any change.
"New Zealand has a huge violent crime problem, the reason being no one is held accountable when the system fails."
McVicar says the public service, as well as the private sector should be held accountable for injuries and deaths under the Health and Safety Act.
"I'm an employer and under the (Health and Safety) Act, if through my actions or inaction, my employee is hurt or killed, I'm going to be held liable."
However McVicar does not just blame the departments. He says it is the legislation that is failing New Zealanders, and law makers and academics are at fault.
"The departments' hands are tied. They can't work with the leg they've got."
