Here's a proposition to explore:
"...the extent to which society provides housing, health, and benefits/welfare is a critical factor in whether people avoid the justice system in the first place."
Coming from the current crop of public service apologists this suggests it is the fault of "society" that people are in prison.
It's extracted from a foreword by the CE of Corrections or Ara Poutama Aotearoa, a name which has been "... gifted to us after extensive consultation with Māori communities and iwi."
My attention was drawn to this document after I OIAed Corrections asking why they had ceased publication of Practice: The New Zealand Corrections Journal, a $10,000 six-monthly value-for-money collection of articles penned by those working with prisoners. The answer is the journal has been put on hold while they focus on Hokai Rangi, the new Maori strategy.
But back to the statement. Most people in prison have more than a passing acquaintance with state housing, public health services and the benefit system.
Is it too much or not enough?
1 comment:
I anticipate the screams of outrage, but - No. Its a problem that has grown over decades. The ability to have children without limit at taxpayer expense. The lack of two parent families - and the multiple partners that go with that. The lack of discipline. Of course Maori do not have that on their own, but it seems to be more prevalent. The huge state House estates that are now thankfully dwindling also played a part where peer pressure was brought to bear on the children as they grew.
I recall my sister, a High School teacher, telling us about a brilliant young Maori girl - On her way to being a star pupil, but of her slovenly peers telling her that if she wanted to be better than all of them, they didn't want to know her any more. So she stopped her studies [much to my sisters and her parents anguish] and commenced slouching round the school with her "friends" who were merely marking time until the DPB.
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