crime

Categories under crime

Institutional racism

Written By: - Date published: 4:20 pm, February 13th, 2009 - 110 comments

Bruce Emery’s sentence of just four years and three months on a reduced charge of manslaughter for chasing 15 year old Pihema Cameron 300 metres down the street and stabbing him to death with a knife is a stark reminder of the institutional racism that still exists in this country. Let’s not pretend for a […]

Left to the market

Written By: - Date published: 2:10 pm, February 12th, 2009 - 34 comments

Two Pennsylvania Judges have been accused of taking bribes from private prison operators to ensure a reliable stream of prisoners. To quote Associated Press: In one of the most shocking cases of courtroom graft on record, two Pennsylvania judges have been charged with taking millions of dollars in kickbacks to send teenagers to two privately […]

DPF and Whale make me happy!1!

Written By: - Date published: 12:57 pm, February 4th, 2009 - 26 comments

There’s been a story that I have been dreading having to respond to because it is so low, dishonest, and despicable. Truth be told, I expected to see it by now on Whaleoil or Kiwiblog. And I have to say I’m pleasantly surprised. In not touching this story, they’ve proven themselves a step above The Truth*, […]

Car crushing fist of the State

Written By: - Date published: 12:45 pm, February 3rd, 2009 - 32 comments

Despite being remarkably quiet throughout a spate of serious police controversies, Police Minister Judith Collins has finally risen to the challenge of leadership over the so-called Boy Racer issue. Collins has suggested crushing the impounded cars of those deemed to be acting like ‘Boy Racers’ in reaction to a Christchurch incident last week when a […]

It’s a crime

Written By: - Date published: 10:57 am, February 2nd, 2009 - 36 comments

I have a crime to report. Someone has kidnapped one of our most insightful journos and replaced them with an illiterate wowser. How else to explain writing an article called “Collins must collar rising tide of crime ” when any journalist with a modicum of professionalism knows, having read the stats, that crime is not […]

Truly sensible sentencing

Written By: - Date published: 3:17 pm, January 12th, 2009 - 16 comments

“I’m not one for ideological stances; I support what works”, said John Key  in a speech to the Salvation Army in early 2007. Well now the challenge is on. Steve posted earlier today calling for a “truce on the sentencing bidding war”, echoing the recent sentiment of Kim Workman, director of the Rethinking Crime and Punishment project. […]

Police nurture a unwise form of direct democracy

Written By: - Date published: 10:00 am, January 7th, 2009 - 27 comments

 The Economist has an fascinating article “Rioters of the world unite“. It is partially about the demonstrations, protests, and outright riots in Athens and other parts of Greece at the end of last year. It is also partially concerned with a rising trend in new ways to not organize, and still be politically effective.  The […]

Evolution and Crime

Written By: - Date published: 12:19 am, December 28th, 2008 - 76 comments

The Economist is one of the few main stream media that seem to be flourishing in the days of decline for most media outlets. This is probably because it offers truly interesting comment and opinion. For instance in the current science section, they have “Darwinism:Why we are, as we are, a view on the current […]

Animal right activists, farming and the police

Written By: - Date published: 4:06 pm, December 21st, 2008 - 44 comments

On ABC last night there was a excellent video “Animal rights campaigner spreads message“. It is worth watching for people who (unlike me) haven’t been seen some of the material before. It concerns a animal rights activist in aussie, wealthy backers, and a certain amount of bloody silly self-righteousness from groups that don’t enforce their […]

Have the police been inciting?

Written By: - Date published: 12:04 pm, December 21st, 2008 - 52 comments

There is a slowly emerging twist in police spy scandal. The question of incitement and provocation from an agent of the police. Bearing in mind that it is an obvious escalation of paying people embedded deep in any activist organisation, it is something that an agent’s handlers should have been aware of and taken steps […]

Howard Broad: Incompetent, dishonest or about to fire some people?

Written By: - Date published: 2:59 pm, December 20th, 2008 - 48 comments

Let us assume, for a while, that Broad didn’t know the detail of SIG’s activities with Gilchrist If his staff were doing their job he knew about the story before Saturday, but let’s pretend they didn’t and the Police weren’t asked for comment until um… midday Saturday. Unlikely I know, but let’s give him the […]

Prison tucker

Written By: - Date published: 1:09 pm, December 19th, 2008 - 57 comments

When I saw this photo of Pita Sharples tucking into a prison meal in today’s Dom Post I was hopeful it was a stunt to try and put a stop to the mean-spirited howls from talkbackland over how prisoners have it too good at Christmas time. But what a difference a ministerial warrant and the […]

Police spied on Unite Union too

Written By: - Date published: 3:09 pm, December 18th, 2008 - 42 comments

Matt McCarten, head of the Unite Union, has just released emails showing police informant Rob Gilchrist gave the police spy unit details about activities being organised by the union as part of their push to abolish youth pay rates and increase the minimum wage. ‘These emails give lie to the police claim that only potential […]

Bill Ralston on police spying

Written By: - Date published: 2:09 pm, December 18th, 2008 - 8 comments

Bill Ralston usually gets stirred by posters at The Standard for what he says. I’ve generally liked him after seeing him give some politicians a degree of ribbing at the annual foreign policy conference in Dunedin in the mid-80’s. I really liked his most recent blog “Wimpy response to out-of-line cops”. The latest Hager/Hubbard story […]

Who else are they spying on?

Written By: - Date published: 2:24 pm, December 17th, 2008 - 16 comments

Gordon Campbell raises a good question in his latest Scoop column – are the Police also using paid informants to spy on mosques? According to the original Sunday Star-Times article, the Police informant Rob Gilchrist was getting $600 a week for his information. This is a substantial amount, and more than enough to entice anyone […]

The limits to tolerance of the police

Written By: - Date published: 3:00 pm, December 16th, 2008 - 66 comments

On discovering that her boyfriend had been spying on her and her friends for the police, and the consequent violations of her expectation of privacy, my niece Rochelle had quite enough tolerance of the police. That is sufficient cause to get seriously annoyed, and it is generally unwise to seriously annoy geeks. So she has […]

Garth McVicar – racist

Written By: - Date published: 12:57 pm, December 16th, 2008 - 59 comments

Here’s a quiz. Can you name the one killing that has seen Sensible Sentencing’s barking mad Garth McVicar support the killer and argue, in direct contrast to his normal practice, that the sentence ought to have been more lenient? And can you point to the unusual socio-economic conditions around this killing? Yup. The only, only, killing […]

Howard – some advice on what questions to ask

Written By: - Date published: 11:49 am, December 16th, 2008 - 23 comments

Yesterday, Howard Broad made statements about the targets of the SIG (Special Investigation Group) to National Radio. Interview with Howard Broad on his actions. I’ve seen some of the e-mails when Rochelle Rees discovered them. From them and his statements, I get the impression that the police commissioner is and has been kept out of […]

Police Special Investigations – A fundamental lack of humanity

Written By: - Date published: 8:02 am, December 15th, 2008 - 46 comments

Aside from all the democratic, political and moral issues raised by the Police’s behaviour, there is a fundamental lack of humanity in their actions. Yeah, perhaps the Police do have a role in preventing the graffiti of billboards (apparently they used their informant to try to track down a group that graffitied a red meat […]

No Right Turn: Police State

Written By: - Date published: 1:17 pm, December 14th, 2008 - 35 comments

No Right Turn has written in his cogent style on the police spy issue. With the kind permission of No Right Turn, I’ve quoted it in full below. Because the police operate independently of the government at the operational level (as they should), the “mission” creep is always going to be a issue. Unfortunately the […]

Judith Collins – thoughtless idiot

Written By: - Date published: 11:34 am, December 14th, 2008 - 28 comments

Nothing is quite as important to a democracy as activist groups that engage in peaceful protest for change. In the past these are the groups that have worked for extending the franchise (including to woman), establishing the rights of workers in employer/employee relationships, the abolition of slavery, campaigned for sewerage systems and clean water reticulation, […]

Garth McVicar

Written By: - Date published: 3:08 pm, December 2nd, 2008 - 68 comments

Sensible Sentencing Trust spokesman Garth McVicar’s analysis of prisons today: “Under our present prison policy the inmates are basically running the prison” Why does anyone take this man seriously?

Chain gang

Written By: - Date published: 7:17 am, October 29th, 2008 - 76 comments

The Nats’ private prison scheme just gets worse. As No Right Turn points out prisons would be used to do contract work and prisoners would be forced to be used as cheap labour or lose their parole. Aside from the fact this would constitute slave labour it would also allow prison companies to undercut other […]

Prisons for profit

Written By: - Date published: 5:50 pm, October 28th, 2008 - 49 comments

National’s announcement that it plans to privatise the prison system says a lot about the party’s underlying values. Say what you like about National’s temporary flip-flops, underneath they haven’t changed a bit. Whether it’s ACC, privatising assets, drafting electoral law or reforming the Resource Management Act, the National Party stands for entrenching private power at […]

The Standard line: crime

Written By: - Date published: 9:27 am, October 20th, 2008 - 39 comments

So, you’re talking with someone about politics and they say something really dumb and wrong and you know it’s wrong but you don’t have the arguments and facts at your fingertips to make a decisive point. That’s where our election series, The Standard line, comes in. The info you need in bite-size form. Today, crime: […]

Not a game

Written By: - Date published: 3:56 pm, October 17th, 2008 - 46 comments

National has a press release out blaming Labour for a supposed increase in assaults on police. Now, there are more people and more police than ever before, so all things being equal there will be more assaults, but it would be a concern if the rate of assaults had increased. In fact, the rate on […]

Even your Granny doesn’t believe you anymore

Written By: - Date published: 11:37 am, October 10th, 2008 - 32 comments

The Herald editorial this morning lambastes National’s crime policy as “simply a more extreme version of a policy that has failed this country and others” but Granny Herald consoles herself: In all likelihood, this is not something that Mr Key will pursue if National wins the election. It is a policy calculated to strike a […]

Power to attack Nats’ new prison policy?

Written By: - Date published: 2:55 pm, October 7th, 2008 - 30 comments

If he stands true to his principles, National justice spokesman Simon Power will soon be criticising the cost of their proposed new prison. You’ll note in this story that National proposes to build a prison (for their new reactionary justice policy) at a cost of $314 million. That is $548,951 per bed. Or not far […]

Reverting to type

Written By: - Date published: 11:23 am, October 6th, 2008 - 48 comments

Fearing a PR disaster over their tax-cut package announcement later this week, National has reverted to type, shedding the moderate facade and proposing a good old fashioned ‘get tough’ crime policy. National would abolish parole for people convicted of murder who have previously been convicted of a serious violent crime. In the last six years, […]

Depressing

Written By: - Date published: 10:14 am, October 6th, 2008 - 29 comments

I see National has released a knee-jerk reactionary crime policy this morning, and it’s been reported largely uncritically by a news media that’s made a fortune fostering public fear of crime at a time when crime rates are falling and resolution rates are on the rise. It’s frankly depressing that our level of public debate […]

Here’s an idea, ask the expert

Written By: - Date published: 12:29 am, October 2nd, 2008 - 33 comments

Don’t take it from me. Certainly don’t take it from a National hack, who despite being a professional statistician, is too dishonest to even adjust his stats for population growth. No, listen to the Assistant Police Commissioner explain (in a measured and charmingly earnest tone) the details and meaning of the latest crime stats here.

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