Justice Minister Simon Power is signalling a further shakeup of the criminal justice system in the next 12 months as he investigates changes, including the way sex offence victims are questioned.

"Just because it's the way it's always been done does not mean that is the only answer for us in future."

Among the changes already under way are using computers more to reduce reliance on paper files, and using audiovisual links for hearings and procedural matters. Critics say defendants have the right to face their accuser.

But Mr Power told Parliament's justice committee that transporting notorious killer Graeme Burton to Wellington from Paremoremo and back for two court appearances in early 2007 cost $14,000. "There's got to be a better way of doing it than that."

The Government had advice that it was not a breach of the bill of rights.

Mr Power leaves for Europe later this month to investigate one of the other controversial changes he is considering – a move to an inquisitorial system in sexual offending cases.

Under such a system, a judge would be involved in collecting and determining the facts of the case, rather than the traditional adversarial system which requires cross-examination of victims.

Though no decisions have been made yet, Mr Power made it clear yesterday that he believed victims, particularly child victims, were being brutalised by the current system.

"Children who are forced to give explanations 12 or 18 months later about something that occurred when they were five or six years old under cross-examination – that can't be, in the long term, a satisfactory way for those people to engage with the criminal justice system," he said.

A child could not be expected to explain in cross-examination so long after the incident whether they stood by their claim, what was going through their mind, and details like "What time did this person come into your bedroom?" This was not a satisfactory way for the criminal justice system to deal with those individuals, he said.

Mr Power also thought women sex victims should not have to relive offences against them under cross-examination and that needed "serious improvement".

The idea of children being interviewed by qualified experts rather than judges or lawyers was also worth considering.

Mr Power said simplification of the criminal justice system would include looking at what point a defendant could elect to have a jury trial, what should happen when people didn't show up in court and having lawyers agree early on what the key issues were. The changes he was considering were big and he would talk to the legal profession before pushing ahead.

There have already been significant changes, including beefed up victims' rights and the removal of the defence of provocation.