Criminal justice advocate warns of ‘loneliness and abuse’ in pursuit of reform
As the prison population reaches a record high of 10,911, Kim Workman calls on academics to continue pushing for evidence-based policies
Kim Workman is one of the great and humble champions for those who society has damned, hearing him speak of the loneliness of that battle and the abuse you have to put up with from cracker is a reminder of just how unforgiving redneck settler culture can be in New Zealand.
We forget so often what a little fascist police state NZ was and continues to be in NZ.
Fed by a dark need for vengeance, the NZ electorate has been malformed into a baying mob crying out for the lynching.
Challenging that Lynch mob and calling for mercy is a Herculean task that demands much for mere inches gained.
Kim is a legend and his kindness and strength of purpose to advocate for a Justice system that has mercy and rehabilitation at its heart rather than the unmitigated punishment fetish social disaster our prison system has become is a struggle worthy of celebration and honour.
Our current violent, under resourced and corrupt prison system is only good for taking damaged men and making them monsters because when you make human beings suffer like animals, they become worse animals.
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Kim is old and retired but he has never stopped trying to get better systems in this country and better treatment of people who have erred. He is like Noam Chomsky – dedicated to trying to turn the tide of human thought and behaviour away from destructive floods. Water is an essential to us, so is kindness, consideration and self-control, and the people in charge of anything need to learn this quickly. We are getting submerged in the negative behaviours and I don’t know what the point of no return is, but we are in trouble and the demonic behaviour of the avaricious is turning our society backward and adopting behaviours we had tried to overthrow as part of a ‘better’ society. The religious right will lead us into error and so religion may become a poisoned chalice for humankind . The true humanity contained in religious tracts somewhere must be found and prevail and we cannot just leave it to thoughtful people to remind us and keep on keeping on towards a damaged world and people. Palestine and Israel are examples.
Try and have a Happy Christmas, and do something community minded apart from watching or playing sport, like carol singing with strong male voices underpinning the notes.
Do an article on the victims of crime, they outnumber Workman by tens of thousands every year
No one is suggesting that crime is good or that the victims of it don’t suffer; however, a system that makes people worse in prison is a major factor in the high number of people who become victims of crime. Who was it who said that He died for us while we were still sinners? Some people are too far gone to be rehabilitated yet our economic system relies on keeping many people in hopeless conditions just so a few at the top can profit from the misery of the multitudes, how fair is that?
Crime makes victims worse, you know, rape, robbery, home invasion, GBH, burglary, taking and wrecking someone’s car, murder. If a scumbag ends up in prison that is where they belong.