The Standard » crime

Time for a cross party consensus on crime

r0b — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 19:25:49 +0000

All of a sudden National and ACT are sounding vaguely sensible on crime and prisons. There seems to be a golden opportunity to reach a cross party consensus, and get some evidence driven policy and practice in this area. Who is going to make the first move?

Lord Ashcroft woz here

all_your_base — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 03:33:44 +0000

Boing Boing reports that: The London police have bested their own impressive record for insane and stupid anti-terrorism posters with a new range of signs advising Londoners to go through each others’ trash-bins looking for “suspicious” chemical bottles, and to report on one another for “studying CCTV cameras.” It’s hard to imagine a worse, more ...

Kurariki on home detention

Steve Pierson — Tue, 06 May 2008 00:10:51 +0000

No doubt, there will be hollow cries of outrage from Simon Power and Sensible Sentencing over Bailey Kurariki being transferred from jail to home detention for the last months of his sentence. Kurariki has been in jail for five years, since he was 12. His sentence expires in six months. By moving Kurariki to a ...

Simon’s semantics

all_your_base — Thu, 01 May 2008 22:11:33 +0000

Never one to miss an opportunity to stir up fear over crime, Simon Power now wants us to believe that we’re less safe because of the rise of “violent offenders” being granted home detention. As is increasingly common inside his caucus, he’s hoping that we’ll overlook the detail. The background is that in the last ...

Repeating the mistakes of others

Steve Pierson — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 19:07:49 +0000

Remember National’s policy of charging a $50 levy on everyone convicted of or, maybe, charged with (Key keeps on mixing up the terms) an offence? Remember all the obvious problems with it enforcement, administration cost, natural justice issues, the pitiful size of the sum that would be collected? Well, it turns out we missed one. ...

Tough on crime, tough on the parents

Dancer — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 09:25:53 +0000

Crime, whether static or out of control, is going to be part of our election year “top ten”. I suspect National’s $50 fine policy didn’t quite get the glowing endorsments they were hoping for (see why here). So when I spotted this story at the Guardian, I thought it looked just like a new National ...

Sensible Sentencing: Disgusting

Steve Pierson — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 23:50:58 +0000

The Sensible Sentencing Trust is a backward, reactionary organisation at the best of times but this is a new low. Responding to comments Children’s Commissioner Dr Cindy Kiro made about tagging, Sensible Sentencing’s Garth McVicar said ‘Her comments are hugely provocative at a time when a decent hard working citizen is facing a murder charge ...

“Frankly, it’s a market”

Steve Pierson — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 02:33:51 +0000

That’s what Key said when asked about his plan to increase GP fees. A reader reckons Key’s planning to apply the same market logic to crime: Great cartoon. No wonder National’s Law and order Spokesperson, Simon Power, is distancing himself from Key’s policy.

Crime continues to fall

Steve Pierson — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 23:28:15 +0000

The latest Police statistics show crime is still dropping. Crime dropped from 1013 offences per 10,000 people in 2006 to 1008 in 2007. There was a dramatic reduction in homicides (down 10.1%, following a 10.2% drop in 2006), sex attacks were down 2.3%, and â€˜Dishonesty’ offences, including thefts and burglaries, fell 5.1%. There is also ...

National’s victims policy

Steve Pierson — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 23:38:32 +0000

National has proposed several initiatives around victims’ rights, most of which are based on policy already under development by the Ministry of Justice. Sure to gain media attention is the â€˜Victims’ Compensation Scheme’ to be funded from a levy of $50 on every convicted offender. This is meant to fund victims’ costs ‘such as travel ...

Nats talk up crime, policy absent

Steve Pierson — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 04:04:46 +0000

As part of its â€˜New Zealand sucks’ campaign, National is on its high horse over an international survey that shows New Zealand’s crime victimisation rate is one of the higher ones in a group of 30 developed countries. Comparing crime levels across countries is bloody hard because of different laws, reporting practices, and reporting rates ...

Good news

IrishBill — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 03:05:39 +0000

Stuff reports the stolen military medals have been returned. I had expected they would never be seen again but when I think about it nearly every high-profile theft of art or artifact I can remember has resulted a successful return. Kudos to the police for making sure we get to keep a part of our ...

Who’ll run John’s boot camps?

Eddie — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 02:22:32 +0000

The Army has said it doesn’t want to run National’s boot camps – they prefer to train people who actually want to be there. So the question now is who do they plan to get to do it? They’re not saying much at the moment, but Key’s new policy does leave the door open for ...

Key speech: strategic blunder?

Tane — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 01:11:16 +0000

So this is John Key’s ambition: throwing troubled teens in boot camp, beating up on beneficiaries and criminalising our children. I’ve only had a quick read through the speech in my lunch break so it’s possible I’ve got this wrong, but I get the distinct impression that Key has made a major strategic error here. ...

Key Karaoke

all_your_base — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 04:20:31 +0000

Check out this fantastic karaoke clip from Ali Ikram on Sunrise this morning. Lyrics below: I know this song might sound like “Clocks” But I assure you that it’s not Just a bunch of random notes we composed to attract your votes Sent 10,000 DVDs so you could get to know John Key PS. if ...