New Zealand's tough bail laws do not make the country safer, says researcher Dr Liz Gordon, and called remand "a huge breeding ground for the next generations of criminals".
The Government are looking at reforming the justice system, with possible changes in the works for the bail law.
The current law saw a change in 2013, which made it tougher for people on remand to get bail. The change spiked the prison population with an increase of about 1000 more on remand, according to RNZ.
Dr Liz Gordon, a board member for the charity Pillars and former Alliance MP, said by the time they get to trial, half of the people on remand would have already served all their sentence.
"Because they're not sentenced prisoners they can't be put out to work, they can't be put into programmes and so on. Their visiting days tend to be on weekdays so the kids can't come and see them. Being on remand, you're pulled out of your life. You lose your job, you lose your family, you lose your car, you lose your financial situation, sometimes people lose all their belongings."
She said there were "a lot of injustices" due to current bail laws.
"We're not any safer, there's still the same number of murders every year. We're keeping people on remand who have quite short sentences."
Dr Gordon said a reduction of about half of those held on remand would mean new prisons would not need to be built.
"Remand is a huge breeding ground for the next generations of criminals".
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