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Read: Thinking’ – solutions to mass imprisonment.

Published: November 10, 2010

by David Clendon

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Last night I spent Parliament’s dinner break at the launch of a new website, an initiative of the Robson Hanan Trust led by Kim Workman.
To quote from the introduction on the site:
“Rethinking Crime and Punishment” is a strategic initiative to increase public debate about the use of prison and alternative forms of punishment in New Zealand.
In the western world, New Zealand is second only to the United States in the rate at which it locks people up. Whatever your view of prison, we think there is a need for fresh thinking and a much wider public discussion.”
We are spending an awful lot of money on Corrections, to the extent that it fast becoming one of the largest single items on the country’s budget.
Most of it goes on building and maintaining prisons and keeping more people locked up for longer.  This is a really dumb way to spend money – wasteful of capital, wasteful of resources, and worst of all wasteful and destructive of human potential.
We in the Greens are believers in evidence-based decision making and practice, and this government often claims to be equally committed to an evidence based approach to policy.
Actions speak louder than words however, and their drive to spend more and more on containment and a hopelessly inadequate amount on rehabilitation, drug and alcohol treatment, reintegration services, and other real solutions, reflects their confusion.
‘Rethinking’ is a project committed to presenting well researched and clearly presented information that points to how we can keep people out of prison, make our communities safer and more equitable, save a great deal of money over time, and make a lot of peoples’ lives much better.
For anyone wanting to be better informed to advocate for change, or for those who think the current system is working but are willing to engage with evidence and arguments to the contrary, I encourage you to subscribe to the newsletter accessible on the website.
I hope our minister of finance has a look too.  He said in a speech recently:
 “The politicians’ task is to turn the objective of community safety into some high level outcomes, like reduced prison numbers, or reduced youth offending rates. The public service needs to think about the governance and accountability structure that can drive decisions to achieve these outcomes.
We have any amount of policy analysis and any amount of public support for success. But there is very little accumulated wisdom on what governance and accountability will deliver the desired policy result.”
I think that is a cop out.  There is any amount of information, research, analysis, and examples of how to achieve those ‘high level outcomes’, and a lot of it will appear on this new site.
What is missing is the political will, the courage to ignore the populist rantings of the ‘lock ‘em up and throw away the key’ brigade, and to invest in some long term solutions rather than spending on short sighted responses that will continue to fail.
KR says: Gives you something to really think about, doesn't it? Have a good read!
Acknowledgements: David Clendon/ Frogblog

Related articles

• Imprisoned Fritzl gives interview (bbc.co.uk)
• Most California parolees back in prison in 3 years (sfgate.com)
• Active Uruguayan general imprisoned in 1974 murder (sfgate.com)
• 15 of the Greatest Prison Escapes (rawjustice.com)
• Active Uruguayan general imprisoned in 1974 murder (seattletimes.nwsource.com)

Bailey Kurariki driven to despair - B.S he is a little A-hole...

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Bailey Kurariki driven to despair - B.S he is a little a-hole...



Rethinking Crime & Punishment group claims media and public attention making Bailey Kurariki's life "utterly miserable.


A group promoting debate on prisons is concern the country's youngest killer could seriously offend again.



Twenty-year-old Bailey Junior Kurariki has been back in court this week, facing four new charges relating to indecency and assault.



Kim Workman from the group Rethinking Crime and Punishment says Kurariki came out of prison full of hope and purpose, with plans to study, but within days he was hassled and photographed at home and at court.



"The sense that he had of hope and planning originally was dissipated by the treatment he got from the media and the public."



Mr Workman says the media is making Kurariki's life utterly miserable and he is concerned he could be driven to commit another serious offence.



"He's in a very bad way. He's quite disturbed and angry and this is not the boy that came out of prison."



Mr Workman claims that if something serious happens everyone will be a part of it.



Kurariki is just a little a-hole. The country has been watching the development of a criminal the last few years. Mr Workman's claims are an exaggeration - from a well- meaning man.


He'll be back in spades, will be involved in a very serious crime before long.







Acknowledgements: © 2010 NZCity, NewsTalkZB

Were the raids carried out by armed police in recent days justified?

Were raids carried out by armed police in recent days justified? From what we have been told so far, probably yes!

You would expect the victims of such raids to maintain their innocence. Tame Iti's general behaviour has long suggested he could well be involved in anti- social activities. The others involved have been closed books as far as our society has been concerned; the books are about to be opened, so to speak.

In my opinion you have to look at the thought processes of people from his area. The Tuhoe claim they are an independent nation, which is a load of unadlterated crap. There is only one nation - the New Zealand nation, and Tuhoe are part of that nation. So therefore some Tuhoe behaviour could be construed as bordering on treason against the New Zealand state. Such treason is punishable by a life sentence in prison - the death penalty existed until recently.

Some of the attitudes of many Maori in general should be considered to be of some concern too.

These Maori need to grow up and realise they live in the 21st century and not in the times of their ancestors who may well have been treated badly by the British authorities and settlers of the times. We have the Waitangi Tribunal to take care of disputed land.

Maori need to realise that they too, are descendants of immigrants,in their case from East Polynesia - they were the first human residents in New Zealand from the mid 13th century onwards. Maori are therefore not indigenous, but New Zealand's first people.

But having said all this, I expect some "real evidence" to be produced by police prosecutors at coming court hearings.I await this evidence with bated breath.

HAMILTON - Police investigating the discovery of one of the country's largest P labs have released rare video footage taken inside the house, as a warning to communities about the dangers of methamphetamine.

The clandestine methamphetamine laboratory - one of the five biggest such labs uncovered to date - was raided by police on Thursday at Newcastle Rd in Dinsdale, Hamilton.

Police finished decommissioning the lab last night, after an extensive four-day operation to remove the chemicals found.

The clean-up was hampered by the discovery of a small quantity of explosives and a pipebomb.

Detective Senior Sergeant Mike Whitehead screened a six-minute segment, of a 45 minute video, this morning to media in Hamilton, taken by police wearing full protective gear as they walked through the home.

He said the release of the footage was an attempt to dispel conceptions that P-labs were "nice clinical lab-like environments".

Footage showed several rooms in the cluttered house covered in equipment and containers with chemicals and paraphernalia, which police believe had been accumulated over three years.

Fixtures and fittings in the house could be seen to be corroded from the chemicals and fumes.

Read the full story:

Police discovery of largest P lab

The PM tells it like it is. Rickards rise through the police force was as a bully boy! He doesn't deserve a job as a bottle washer in the police canteen. All of NZ, apart from the rightwingers who support the National Party, want to see the back of this disgrace to the NZ Police Force. He should resign forthwith!

PM says Rickard's rise was due to police culture
Helen Clark says Clint Rickards had steady rise through police until he ran into the obstacle of her. And then he went no where fast!

3 April 2007 The Prime Minister claims a police culture of "looking after their own" was the only reason Clint Rickards rose to be Auckland's top cop.The Commission of Inquiry into Police Conduct released today identifies a culture of police turning a blind eye to misdemeanours involving officers.Helen Clark says that is why Clint Rickards had a steady rise through the police until he put his name forward to be a Deputy Commissioner."He then ran into the obstacle of me and the Minister of Police, who on becoming aware of the nature of the allegations (against Mr Rickards) and the fact that they were still circulating, declined to consider forwarding his name to the Governor General for a warrant."Miss Clark says there was clearly a better person for the job.Mr Rickards wants to return to his job as Auckland's district commander after being cleared of historical indecent assault and rape charges.His lawyer John Haig says he is appalled at today's comments from the Prime Minister. Mr Haigh says her statement about his client is wrong and has no validity whatsoever.