Government needs Goal to Reduce Imprisonment

Media Release: Government needs Goal to Reduce Imprisonment

Embargoed until 10.30am Friday, 17th May

The Government should have a goal not only to reduce reoffending, but to reduce imprisonment, says Kim Workman, Spokesperson for Rethinking Crime and Punishment, in a keynote address to the Restorative Justice Aotearoa Conference, held in Auckland.

“The Better Public Service Action Plan is notable for its set of aspirational targets, including the reduction of reoffending by 25%. It fails however, to make the connection between the reduction of reoffending, and the use of imprisonment. Setting a goal to reduce the imprisonment rate by 25%, and then developing a strategy to achieve that goal, would be a significant step forward.

“This last year the number of recorded offences is at its lowest since 1989, and the rate of recorded crime is the lowest since 1979. The youth crime rate has also decreased significantly. The rate of apprehensions of children and young people fell by 23 per cent between 2002 and 2011. What hasn’t changed is the level of imprisonment – it was 8,600 a year ago, and is 8,600 today.”

“The limited effectiveness of imprisonment is well documented, and the evidence is clear. Too put it bluntly, prison is a cause of crime. The current paradigm is that if you reduce . reoffending, the prison population will reduce. That has not happened. The more effective paradigm is that if you limit the use of prison, reoffending will reduce. There is good evidence to support that view – the challenge then is to develop alternatives.

“A target to reduce the imprisonment rate by 25% to 150 per 100,000 would reduce the imprisonment rate to the 1999 level. It would bring New Zealand just below the current imprisonment level in England and Wales (152) , but above that of Australia (134). It represents a potential annual saving of $200m per annum.”
Reference: Link to speech at: http://www.rethinking.org.nz/assets/Speeches/Doing_Restorative_Justice_in_a_Retributive_Society.pdf

ENDS

Scoop copy of speech: Doing_Restorative_Justice_in_a_Retributive_Society.pdf

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