Justice Minister Kiri Allan has paused a policy that gave duty lawyers a financial incentive if their clients entered an early guilty plea.
Duty lawyers would receive an extra $120 per case on top of their hourly rate if their client admitted they were guilty and sentenced at the first opportunity. The scheme had been operating in Christchurch, Hutt Valley, and Hamilton district courts, Stuff reported, and was due to be rolled out nationwide.
Allan on Tuesday said this is an issue she's "fundamentally concerned" about.
"I think that anything that shows or could be perceived to be that there is a fiscal advantage from entering a guilty plea at first appearance, that's something that I think is quite an overreach and underperformance of policy design," she said.
Allan said she met with officials on Monday for a "please explain".
The scheme was developed in a bid to reduce some delays within the courts, something Allan said was an "admirable pursuit" and something they're trying to achieve. But in the process of doing this, she said they can't at the same time create financial incentives.
The Ministry of Justice had earlier said the system hadn't been abused, but lawyers were concerned it was "profoundly unethical" and could cause "irreparable damage" to the trust defendants have in duty lawyers.
