Time to Move on from Three Strikes – Rethinking Crime and Punishment

“The Three Strikes legislation is a permanent blot on our judicial landscape – but we must not get foxed into litigating it repeatedly in the media, and diverting attention from the issues that are creating crime in the community”, said Kim Workman, Director of Rethinking Crime and Punishment.

“Where are our real priorities? We have a record 8,200 people imprisoned, and only about 3% of those will be savaged by a third strike. Of the other 97% who are languishing in prison, eighty percent are illiterate, 40% have diagnosable mental illness, and 80% have drug and alcohol dependency issues.”

“Of the additional $700 million allocated from the budget to Prisons and Probation over the next four years, $11 million (about 1.5%) will be spent on rehabilitation in the form of drug treatment. That will mean that 1000 of the 6000 prisoners requiring drug treatment will receive it at by 2014. The rest of the money will go tokeeping more people locked up. œ

“While all that is going on, a recent Nielson survey showed that 86% of New Zealanders identified family violence as the No 1 issue, up from 74% six months ago. Just think what the $700m could have done in the areas of family violence, child abuse, early childhood support, alcohol abuse and the management of low-level offendin. All those issues are part of the œDrivers of Crime strategy, which government in a December press release, said it supported, but not to the extent of providing additional funding.

Let’s start getting our priorities right.

Reference: http://www.rethinking.org.nz/Print_Newsletters/Issue_74.pdf

ENDS

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