Report: Our tough-on-crime policies aren’t working
Tough-on-crime policies are to blame for ballooning prison costs and inmate numbers, say top science advisers who urge a new “data over dogma” approach to justice.A report released today by the Office of the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Adviser Peter Gluckman finds offending could be better tackled by investing in interventions, rather than just building prisons.
New Zealand’s prison population – 220 out of every 100,000 Kiwis are now behind bars – is among the highest in the developed world.
Last year, the Herald reported how the Department of Corrections was dealing with growing numbers by pushing through construction of a new $1.5 billion prison in Waikato, increasing the number of inmates to share rooms, and even turning to kitset cells.
Our out of control incarceration is an example of middle class fears driving policy. NZ Media sensationalise crime, sensible sentencing lynch mob fans flames & feral politicians manipulate get tough on crime anger.
We ram prisoners into an underfunded partly privatised prison system. Their environment inside is one of harassment, physical violence and sexual assaults. The truth is ‘rehabilitation’ is a joke term and the horrific reality is that most of these prisoners are more damaged when released than when they go in.
We have a cultural feedback loop inciting spiteful outcomes.
What makes this social policy abomination even more pressing is its jaw dropping racism.
The NZ Police admitted on Waatea Radio that they are biased against Māori, we know from JustSpeak research that the Judiciary is biased against Māori and then we act surprised when the UN takes us to task that Māori make up over half of the entire prison population.
This is a cultural war crime perpetrated without a blink of self recognition or disgust.
We can not allow a victim porn media to promote victim culture to the point where compassion and redemption are eclipsed and extinguished by anger and vengeance.
Its not just our police that incite spiteful outcomes Martyn sit in court for a day the court staff do this as well. I have seen it first hand they act like the judge and jury they are very nasty, judgmental and vindictive to boot oh I forgot racist and discriminative . These are government clerks.
Why do I just want to retort, where has this opportunist weasel and Head Boy of the system been for the past 9 years ??
Faark the muppets. I have zero respect for for people who can’t think for themselves and neither should you.
“Faark the muppets.I have zero respect for people who can’t think for themselves ”
That doesn’t read like something I’d expect from the ‘ crown prosecutor’ you purported to be in a previous comment made by you?
People who can’t think for themselves are people who can’t think for themselves. That’s why, a benevolent society of empathic other people, usually, hopefully, though unlikely to be, politicians, who are prepared to, without malice, think for them/you/us until they/we get back on their/our feet. So to speak.
What might your self proclaimed ‘ no respect’ achieve anyway? More ‘criminals’? Can’t eat, snort, fuck, respect. Who gives a… well, fuck, I suppose, for your respect anyway. Is the world going to go square, then flat, without your much lorded ‘respect’? No. I doubt it.
What does the word ‘polarise’ mean to you?
Once a segment of the population is ‘polarised’ another segment of the population can, and will, manipulate and, in this case, profit from, any, or all, dysfunction. I mean, What? The! Fuck!?
Prisons, are, by and large, archaic torture devices who’s only purpose is to sate the perverse and distasteful intellectual dalliances of the well educated yet terminally stupid. Probably for a stiffy.
If we’re ever going to evolve away from rubbing our ball bags on tree branches as a way of shouting “Hey! Look at me! Hey! “ we should probably abandon the idea of imprisonment altogether.
Sure. There are some serious nut-jobs out there that we should be protected from, but why torture them once caught? Show some fucking kindness to them. Try that out? Keep them where we can see them but show them some hugs and cuddles for Christ’s sake. Otherwise? We’re just as monstrous as they are.
US style incarceration to make millions for Jails as “hostels” so they needed to get Government to find any charge against any individual to find “more buns on seats”
SERCO investors are doing very well the Government has to make sure they keep growth going in the Prison Sector.
It was one of National’s key growth strategies for the country under Judith Collins.
Has Gluckman finally realised we need to invest in interventions with inmates, what a smart man duh ?
NZ have been totally useless in addressing and understanding criminality, I guess it comes from our Victorian upbringings and more recently our desire under National’s John Key and Judith Collins desire to follow the USA Prison Business Model ?
Yes JM. It is remarkable that Gluckman said nothing for the last 9 years under National (who appointed him).
I thought when he first came on the scene that he might be able to call National to account, but not on your nelly…. we got diddly squat out of him and now he miraculously comes out of the woodwork as soon as there is a change of govt. Go figure.
Garibaldi: “It is remarkable that Gluckman said nothing for the last 9 years under National…”
I also wondered at his silence; then it occurred to me that the previous government very likely made sure that his views didn’t see the light of day, unless said views chimed with its agenda. And this piece certainly wouldn’t have.
I thought the Police Commissioner referred to an unconscious racial bias – it would surprise me if the police culture were deliberately spiteful. What I do know is that govts have traditionally and very cynically used law and order issues not to try and better society, but simply to garner support for themselves by playing upon people’s fears. Hitler was jolly good at it.
I also know that addressing issues which may contribute to unlawful behaviour, such as: mental health funding, homelessness, child poverty, abuse, baby killing and so on were not priorities under the previous govt. I also know that much of the work done at grass roots level to help those who need help has been done by NGO’s who want a decent society, not votes.
Christine: “I thought the Police Commissioner referred to an unconscious racial bias – it would surprise me if the police culture were deliberately spiteful.”
Me too. They wouldn’t be human if there wasn’t a bit of that, but for the most part I think the police are doing their best, like everybody else.
An unconscious bias wouldn’t be surprising. Criminality does tend to manifest itself disproportionately in the poorest part of society, which is affected by the issues you adduce.
When I was young, the poorest people – and the criminals – were as likely to be Pakeha as Maori. Nowadays, poverty is increasingly concentrated among Maori and Pasifika; therefore it’s unsurprising that increasingly, criminals are Maori or Pasifika.
This is not driven by the middle classes (of which you are one of!), it’s NZ’s absolute government agenda on neoliberal, corporate welfare and user pays for the past 30 years, as well as increasing competition of jobs, housing and everything else through a bizarre immigration policy that also supports a much higher amount of votes to National.
I say again, this is the government’s doing, both the Rogernomics Labour government and then Natz brigade for a decade! Everyone else in this is just collateral damage to our governments increasingly bizarre world views.
In my view after Rogernomics, NZ was actually one of the most propaganda countries in the world about trickle down and firing workers and putting them on zero hour type individual contracts of time specified work. Now they wonder who our workers who were once considered top workers in the world are now described by our own government as hopeless and lazy.
This is further shown by NZ being one of the leading proponents of these free trade deals. Even though we don’t even benefit from them and have to use very dubious figures that count the money that we would have got anyway and miss out the costs.
Our government’s whole identity is tied into low wage economic trade in particular around agriculture, where it does not matter what nationality owns NZ assets or if they even pay taxes here. Their blind ideology is bankrupting our country and emptying it of jobs and opportunities for our own citizens who then find their way into the prison system which is in the process of being privatised!
P.S. Sir Peter Gluckman link is not working and I’m interested to hear his views. Good to see someone new giving a post about an important issue.
The Gluckman link is currently going to the TPPA one. (But worth reading).
This article sums up many of NZ criminals, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/12/takeaway-shop-owner-ignores-armed-robber-new-zealand-video
they are not hardened criminals and actually don’t really want to commit the crimes! In another county they would probably shoot the person they were robbing, in NZ, they wait to be served and then have second thoughts!
Sadly the more we go into this competitive heartless low wage high unemployment, high drug, kafka like 2 tier society in NZ from our government’s US and Asian led ideology, instead of the European social democratic model, the more we are going to have criminal behaviour – that will escalate in violence.
Our government’s ideology needs to change and not just the criminals, our own society from babies to the elderly!!! Look after everyone and your society will look after you!
“Our out of control incarceration” should, imo, read “Our out of control politicians”. We need to nationalize our prisons not privatize them. What country in its right mind makes money off the misery of its citizens? jonkey has gone. Time to start disinfecting and cleaning up his messes.
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