Crime Statistics Tell Less Than Half The Story

Thursday 29 Aug 2002

The Labour Government continues to leave the public in the dark on the true crime rate, ACT Justice Spokesman MP Stephen Franks said today.

"Police Minister George Hawkins and Justice Minister Phil Goff misled New Zealanders by using "10 month" crime figures during the election campaign which they claimed proved that crime was dropping.

"Today's figures show the facts Mr Hawkins and Mr Goff didn't want discussed: crime has risen in every single category and resolution rates are down.

"Yet Labour continues to use statistics to confuse New Zealanders about how bad things really are. The Government has still not provided the results of the victimisation survey conducted last year. We still have no credible explanation for our failure to be part of the authoritative international comparison study conducted by the Dutch government.

"We still have no figures for crimes committed on parole or other early release. And most importantly we have no explanation of why our violent youth crime has nearly doubled while the US has cut theirs by more than a third.

"The most important figures have still not been provided. Improvements will not come until major reform restores personal responsibility for crime and its consequences," Stephen Franks said.

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