National’s new vigilante laws allow for zip tie handcuffing children – why I will stop any adult doing that
National’s insane new vigilante laws allows for zip tie handcuffing children.
That’s inexcusable.
Under New Zealand law, children under 10 cannot commit an offense, and children under 14 are generally protected unless they knew their action was wrong. However, individuals aged 14 and older can be legally held to account for Crimes Act offenses, meaning they fall under the scope of these new detention rules
New Zealand’s updated citizen’s arrest laws allow members of the public to use “reasonable force” and mechanical restraints to detain anyone committing a Crimes Act offense, which legally includes youth as young as 14 years old!
Section 39 of the updated Act explicitly permits the use of physical or mechanical restraints (such as handcuffs or zip ties) “when reasonable” to hold an offender, but Goldsmith has already that the use of cable ties could be a “possibility” under these rules!!!
The only people who should be able to physically restrain someone and handcuff them are the Police or Corrections Staff or mental health nurses. Granting these powers to vigilantes is a terrible recipe for social cohesion!
Retail NZ, the Police Association and Business NZ all criticised these powers and opposed the powers during select committee, warning it could put the public at greater risk of injury!
The Greens warned the powers extend well beyond shoplifting to cover every Crimes Act offence.
NO Government should be encouraging their citizens to start taking the law into their own hands!
This is not reasonable public policy, it is the exact opposite!
If I see some adult hitting a kid while claiming citizens arrest, I will step in and stop them by exercising my right to self defence.
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I have to ask… is that his hand or someone else’s?
“New Zealand’s updated citizen’s arrest laws allow members of the public to use “reasonable force” and mechanical restraints to detain anyone committing a Crimes Act offense, which legally includes youth as young as 14 years old!”
Apparently the young punks that ran down this cop were around that age. I wish someone had stepped in to stop them, and I guess the officers family feels likewise.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/two-teens-charged-after-police-officer-critically-injured-trying-to-stop-fleeing-driver/TPLNYHLUQVEELACZM55X5MIEQQ/
New Zealand has softest laws in the world against criminals of any age, that’s just an objective fact. In the US minors can be imprisoned for life without parole.
Ironically one of the few countries to have had an age of criminal responsibility higher than New Zealand’s is China’s (which use to be 16) and that was changed a few years ago due to public outrage (now 14).
Some people do not realise that harsh measures do not mean rehabilitation is not a priority. Indeed harsh measures with light at the end of the tunnel for the offender is the best way ahead. I know that from being a bit of a problem teen myself (stealing, reckless driving, etc). If I had not been sternly dealt to who knows where I would have ended up.
“NZ has the softest laws against criminals of any age on the world”. Really? Would that stand up to fact checking? And you choose the US, where they have actual criminals running the country, and others being pardoned for being criminals.
It would be unwise to rely on a self-defense defense in this situation Martyn… far too much discretion on the part of police prosecutors and/or crown solicitors involved.
On the other hand, if I see anyone trying to kidnap a child who I reasonably believe is 13 or younger, I will of course step in to arrest them.
Any democratic governance that’s cruel to it’s most vulnerable isn’t a democracy. Any democracy that calls itself a democracy yet doesn’t have compulsory voting isn’t, as irony would have it, a democracy either so one could be forgiven for asking; ” Then is AO/NZ a democracy?” Based on the facts, I’d say no. It isn’t. So what is it then? Terrifying, is the feeling I get from it. goldsmith is not much more than a scary little narcissistic bully and yet there he is. There ‘they’ are.
I think it’s reasonable that our self defense laws be extended so that the defendee us not criminalised for fighting back on reasonable grounds. But this “Citizen Vigilante” empowerment goes to far IMO.
Most comments on this matter suggest that this law is mostly ideological and it reflects National’s instinctive clamour for “fixing crime” and “lawr’n orda” but I suggest there is also a financial aspect to this.
If you can get citizens arresting citizens it cuts down work for the police, then you presumably don’t need so many police and thus the government saves money.
There is always a financial side to any policy of National’s, even if it is not immediately obvious.
How can anyone take that wee weirdo seriously? I mean, really?
I hear he’s a martial arts practitioner.
Here’s a great film about such things.
The Art of Self-Defence
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of_Self-Defense_(2019_film)
I too was a practitioner of the ‘arts’ of self defence. ( Until I fell off the roof of a car and broke my humerus, which wasn’t that fucking funny if you’re wondering. )
That little bum-dingle should’ve never, ever, ever, been allowed anywhere near our politics.
It’s one thing to parade about in white, loose fitting pyjamas and quite the other thing to get rowdy when shit gets real. Here’s a thing about martial arts. Run! Run like Sir John Walker on Meth. Or steal a gun and shoot a fucker. Watch the movie.
Yeah, that’s true. Get the fuck out of there. Even a champion boxer can be taken down by a stray punch or kick in a melee, and a lot of fighting is ground fighting, and practitioners of striking arts are hopeless in this context. Guys brought up in the 80s thought fighting was all about striking, its not —MMA has proven that.
Martial arts for the most part is just that –arts.
How come this CoC can’t get ‘anything’ right and honourable? They just seem to stagger from one catastrophe to another then wonder why it’s getting harder. Goldsmith is clearly hard-hearted, lacks empathy, and views vulnerability as a weakness! He’s clearly NZ’s worst ‘robotic MP’, happy to produce and introduce the Bills that no other MP wants to be associated with. Yes, we do need to deal with ‘out of control’ youth but this is where the parents need to step up and be made accountable. While many are doing their very best to make ends meet and raising their children with values and principles, there are parents who don’t parent! They are weak, are manipulated by their offspring, and want to be their childrens’ best friend instead of taking charge. As Martyn has said, “This is not reasonable public policy, it is the exact opposite!”. Shame on you Goldsmith!
I can’t wait to use my new powers of arrest ,,, though I’m a bit worried that I’ll mix up when to detain the target of my justice ,,, and when to order them to ‘move on’.
Move On … or I’ll detain you ?.
Can you use bondage gear to restrain and subdue em,, better than cable ties, imo ,,
Homemade pepper spray …. AI says — “Vinegar and Hot Sauce Mix: Combine 1/2 gallon of white vinegar, 1/2 gallon of water, 1/2 gallon of hot sauce, and 1/2 lb of cayenne pepper powder. Let rest overnight, strain through cheesecloth, and add 1/4 cup of dish soap before bottling” :0 😉
Finally do we get a ( toothless) ICCA to match the IPCA ,,,, cause criminals like to complain about their arrests.