The prison population declined during 2018 and was steady during 2019. The December number is always lower. The ethnic make up has remained almost exactly the same:
40 percent of prisoners have 'violence' listed as their worst offence.
In December 2017 Andrew Little said he would reduce the prison population. I agree with his aim.
Too many people with mental health problems and other issues weren't getting the help they needed while in prison, Little said, and so were unable to meet the conditions they had to[to] get parole...Speaking to Three's The Nation Andrew Little said he was going to approach the issue "very sensibly"."It's actually not that hard if we choose to resource it properly."So I hope that at least some of those new buildings will be mental health facilities.
1 comment:
I agree with Littles aims, but not with his methods.
I am afraid the Genie is well out of the bottle and good luck with getting it back in.
There was a time when imprisonment was a deterrent to those contemplating crime No longer. Criminals have no fear of Police or Justice. Various justice ministers over the past decades have, instead of making prison a place one would not wish to return to by imposing salutory sentences, have continually carped at the judiciary telling them that there are too many in prison and knock the numbers back.
I had a conversation with the Court Registar at Napier a couple of decades decades ago. He informed me his boss [the district court judge] got regular mail from the minister wanting prison numbers reduced. So he would think "Last week I would have given this thug 6 months. Now I'll give him three. The one he would have given 3 months now got one, and so it rippled down the chain until a fine became admonished and discharged, and this has been going on for decades!
The fact that it costs money to keep a thug incarcerated, and the government gaines money through fines has nothing to do with it of course...
If we take it to its logical conclusion, we will eventually be able to dispense with our police - Its pretty pointless locking a criminal up if they are released straight back ino the community.
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