Following the revelations that United States ‘tough on crime’ lobby groups are being funded by the private prison industry, and the resulting speculation that the same thing could be occurring in New Zealand, further questions are being raised about the Sensible Sentencing Trust, which has not yet denied they are being funded by private prison companies.

The Sensible Sentencing Trust describes itself on its website as a “registered charitable trust” but in doing so may be committing fraud. The group is registered under the Charitable Trusts Act 1957 but appears not to be registered under the more recent Charities Act 2005. Section 37(1) of the Charities Act states that “[a] person must not … use a style or title including the words “registered charitable entity” unless under section 37(2) they are a charitable entity. A “charitable entity” is defined as including “… the trustees of a trust that is or are registered as a charitable entity under this Act”. This information was brought to light on the Waitakare News blog;

my reading of the section is that if a 1957 Act entity did not reregister [under the new act] then it could no longer advertise itself as being “charitable”. It could still exist, but not hold itself out to the public as being a charity. If this is correct then the SST may have committed an offense. Section 38 states that “[e]very person who acts in contravention of section 37(1) … commits an offense and is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding $30,000”.

New Zealand’s media needs to start asking the Sensible Sentencing Trust some difficult questions, questions like ‘why have you not registered under the Charities Act, a law aiming to achieve transparency around the receipt of donations?’ and of course ‘are you receiving donations from the GEO Group or any other organisation with a financial interest in the law and order policies you advocate?’