Despite crime being down and far worse when National were in power…
…it simply doesn’t matter. The impression of fear generated by more extreme actions driven by economic desperation and a broken mental health system (and underfunded welfare wrap arounds that have nothing to wrap around) means that no amount of facts will suffice.
The myopic crime porn clickbait from ratings driven newsrooms incites fear and anger and there is no reasoning with fear and anger.
Right now we are actively debating putting ankle bracelets on 10 year olds or 11 year olds. ACT says 11 years of age, National bark back 10 year olds.
This is the debate. This is what we is now.
Ok.
Let’s see if we can actually agree on how to solve crime by making small tiny adjustments that can stem the flood of gang recruits?
Who doesn’t want that?
All you get tough on crime cheerleaders wanting counter productive Military Boot Camps and ankle bracelets on children desperately want to stop youth criminal recruiting by gangs eh?
You do right?
So how about this as an idea, to sit beside your draconian knee jerk bullshit.
Right now there are 5000 teenagers transitioning from State Welfare Guardianship straight onto the streets with no support.
These are the children from broken damaged situations who have been kept in State care as a ward of the State all this time through various social institutions.
The State is responsible for them, puts a roof over their heads, food on the table, electricty, care, school costs, etc etc etc until the age of 18.
At the age of 18, we kick these kids out onto the street.
There are 132 supported accommodation options available, but there are 5000 of them!
5000 – 132 = 4868.
That’s 4868 kids we are kicking out onto the street.
It’s like we are handing the gangs raw recruits.
A simple, very simple, legislative change is all that is required from you get-tough-on-crime cheerleaders who I KNOW don’t want the gangs to get those raw recruits.
All we need to do is change the legislation so that none of these state agencies can release their 18 year old former wards from their care until appropriate housing is secured for them.
That’s all.
Just say that the state agency responsible for guardianship of children can’t throw them onto the street for gang recruitment until the state agency has secured housing.
Isn’t that something we can all get behind? I appreciate it’s not arming cops or allowing them to arrest infants, but it will do more to stem the recruitment of youth into gangs than simply punishing them.
How about we look for solutions in our broken ‘wrap-around-service’ processes before we start more punishment and suffering?
We only ever seek vengeance, not solutions in this country.
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You are right to a certain degree @ Martyn Bradbury in making more funding available for wrap around social services, and definitely agree that boot camps are not the answer ( pretty sure that the armed forces are not social agencies) but at some stage we do need and deserve accountability from those that perpetrate crime. Just one of the few headlines in our local rag….
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/rotorua-daily-post/news/rotorua-cityride-bus-driver-allegedly-bashed-and-stomped-on-in-unprovoked-attack/3BWTDVIKBZBT7HJAB5WJY77UJE/
No one is denying the system isn’t broken however the repeat ram raid offenders that have terrorised and in some cases destroyed businesses are small in number. Let’s just get these people off the streets and stop the copy cat crimes. We are not just talking ram raids though are we. The video of a dairy thief brandishing a machete was chilling indeed. It will take years to house the homeless and give them meaningful work. In the meantime the public and business people have a right to go about their business without being threatened.
To solve today’s youth crime problem, you needed to start 20 years ago. So it’s a bit late for today’s government.
All today’s government can do is apply a bandage to the bleeding.
PS: if they wanted to start to change the crime rates of the future, stop treating housing supply as an untouchable sacred cow issue.
Tough on Crime! And stupid with Politics! Spot the difference?
Thank you!
What this graph neatly hides is the nearly 40 percent increase in violent offenses by youth in the last 18 months.
What Cricklewoods comment clearly shows is that he does not understand graphs ….
After watching Pam Corkery’s recent documentary on gangs where she interviewd two youth gangs, I don’t think you will stop youth crime. I just feel sorry for the people that live in the likes of Mt Roskill who have to put up with this shit every day.
I was hoping I would win the hundreds of millions in the US Lotto so I could buy places in Remuera and Epsom and house Mt Roskill’s miscreants in them.
Those 5000 state wards being set free under a “labour” party govt deserve more than a see you later they ought to be put into a job placement, training cadetship, apprenticeship, polytech or uni and provided accomodation in a cadet hostel, uni hostel, nurses home, workers ammodation, suitable flat, enough money to pay a bond etc. An assisted start in adult life the same as they would have had if they had doting parents.
Joseph. 100% Well said. This is so self-evident that I’m stymied as to why the mute Minster for Children, and the air-ringed Minister for Social Welfare, and the Minister for Justice aren’t shouting from the rooftops, “ Let’s do this. “ Why are we waiting ?
meh – poor ole New Zealand is waking up to the outcomes of neo-liberal greed and selfishness and wondering why we have greedy selfish crims roaming the streets. Just put some more bars on your windows, legalize handguns and stop your moaning.
Kia ora billid, excellent response.
I can’t see one political party in Aotearoa that is willing to really solve our problems of lawlessness.
They are all tarred with the same neo-liberal greed policies. They all appear to be concerned with their frowning expressions of helplessness, but are they willing to take the steps to halt the widening gap between rich and poor.
Are they prepared to stop all our manufacturing of goods by poorer nations?
This country needs meaningful employment, jobs that can assure a basic 40 hour week with living wages, good training or apprenticeship schemes for school leavers, affordable basic quality accomodation, and a health service that will encourage us all to eat good healthy food.
I had all these benefits when I was growing up, why can’t we do the same for this present generation.
If we don’t make massive changes real soon, we are going to need more than bars on our windows, or bollards outside shop fronts.
Wake up Aotearoa.
Crime is not down. Prosecutions and imprisonment are down because crime is going unpunished as per govt demands. As a wise man once said there are lies, lies and damned statistics. Statistics can be dressed up to look like anything.
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