crime

Collins: All talk, no crush

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 11:46 am, May 2nd, 2010 - 16 comments

We all know that Police and Corrections Minister Judith Collins has, for all her tough talk, failed to bring down crime, and suppressed the official advice that her 3 strikes law may increase murders. But what about the policy that got her the nickname that she revels in? How many cars has ‘Crusher’ crushed? The answer may surprise you.

Garrett defends murder increase law

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 12:05 am, April 21st, 2010 - 37 comments

We were, um, graced with the presence of ACT MP David Garrett on The Standard yesterday. He was trying to defend the 3 strikes policy, which should be renamed the murder increase law in light of the secret advice the Government received from the Ministry of Justice. Like many on the Right, Garrett is in abject denial of Justice’s findings: passing 3 strikes is gambling with people’s lives.

Renewed questions over Sensible Sentencing Trust & GEO Group

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 10:59 am, April 16th, 2010 - 45 comments

It’s time to renew the questions about links between the leading advocates of harsher prison sentences in New Zealand, the Sensible Sentencing Trust and GEO Group, a US private prison operation whose former name, Wackenhut Corrections, became a byword for corruption and abuse. Who is really behind this privatisation and longer sentences agenda?

PPPs don’t make economic sense

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 9:57 am, April 15th, 2010 - 55 comments

National’s apologists say we should let private corporations run our prisons because it will save money. But do Public Private Partnerships (privatisation in drag) really save money? The experience here and abroad says no. To put it bluntly, when you rely on someone else to deliver something you need they’ve got you by the balls and the profit motive gives them plenty of incentive to squeeze.

Allied with murderers

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 10:25 am, April 7th, 2010 - 41 comments

Wikileaks has revealed footage shot from a US Apache helicopter in Iraq in 2007 as they callously murder a dozen Iraqi civilians. Every time you read of some wedding convey being shot up or a houseful of ‘insurgents’ being bombed remember this video and remember that our soldiers are now part of the combat force that is committing these same barbaric acts in Afghanistan.

Key’s promises on crime

Written By: r0b - Date published: 6:53 am, April 5th, 2010 - 58 comments

John Key makes big promises and he doesn’t deliver. Tax cuts North of $50? Jobs summit? Close the gap with Australia? His rhetoric on crime is another example. Key promised to tackle violent crime. Key promised a war on P. Well, the first report card is in, and it isn’t good.

Child offending up with higher unemployment

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 10:55 am, March 15th, 2010 - 8 comments

The Herald has a little shock piece on child offending: “5-year-old sex offender on crime list“. Of course, what the offence was isn’t mentioned and there’s good reasons why children aren’t held legally responsible for their actions. There is an interesting sentence though: “Although the numbers are slightly up on the previous year, they are […]

Daddy to the rescue for Slater

Written By: Zetetic - Date published: 10:11 am, March 9th, 2010 - 22 comments

When things got too hot Cameron Slater called on Daddy to save him. John Slater rushes in to say to cops shouldn’t be charging his son who has been getting his 15 minutes of fame exploiting sex abuse victims. The Nats think the rules don’t apply to them (cf. Heatley, English, Bennett, Jim McClay…). The law’s for keeping the poor in line, not the rich, they reckon.

Alternate forms of protest

Written By: lprent - Date published: 5:41 pm, March 4th, 2010 - 27 comments

Now this is pretty damn funny and just adds to todays absurdities over the waste of money on rugby world cup TV in 2011. Veteran Springbok Tour protester John Minto has found himself at the centre of a new Eden Park storm, with a controversial plan to name a nearby $3 million road after him.

Will the supercity transition authority now want to stop community boards from naming streets?

Collins and the fist of the state

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 12:08 pm, March 4th, 2010 - 39 comments

An ugly side of the Right, one that a lot of people thought was long defeated, has reemerged in recent weeks. Yesterday we had David Garrett’s ‘sterilise the poor because they might become criminals or breed criminals’ and last week we had arguably more disturbing comments from Judith Collins about how she wanted to restore “fear” of the Police.

Get tough no solution

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 2:20 pm, February 23rd, 2010 - 7 comments

Crime is not, as Judith Collins seems to think, evil people doing evil things that can be repressed by ever greater state violence. Deterrence doesn’t work because crime, especially violent crime, is not a rational outcome of weighing costs and benefits. A crime policy that doesn’t reduce crime isn’t really a crime policy, it’s a con.

Wee gripes: Cop attacks, whaling, dr shortage

Written By: Zetetic - Date published: 1:15 pm, February 22nd, 2010 - 26 comments

No chance some gang f#ckwits would be deterred by longer sentences.
What happened to that plan of Key’s to end whaling?
How do we get a high wage economy when National opposes each and every wage rise?

National, time to put your dog on a leash

Written By: Zetetic - Date published: 12:17 pm, February 7th, 2010 - 49 comments

As surely an endorphin high fades, Cameron Slater was going to do something to get his name back in the media. He’s been trying to test the boundaries for a few weeks. He’s been ignored. So, stepped it up a few gears. He’s named another person on name suppression. He doesn’t care that the name […]

Police recruitment campaign steps up a gear

Written By: all_your_base - Date published: 10:15 am, February 1st, 2010 - 18 comments

It was probably well intentioned – and to be fair we don’t know the full facts yet – but on the face of it putting kids in police cars at a school fair then doing donuts and figure eights around the field looks like pretty poor judgement. On the other hand, I’m just a little […]

Goff advocates real solutions to crime

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 7:33 am, January 29th, 2010 - 41 comments

Goff and his advisers knew that the wage cap on public service CEOs would be the headline grabber of his widely praised speech. It succeeded beautifully and has drawn greater attention to the rest of his message. It also maneuvered National into the position of having to advocate for higher wages for public servants on […]