crime Archive

  • Catherine Delahunty

    Crime and access to welfare - by Catherine Delahunty



    Paula Bennett is horrified that people claim to have committed crimes because of poverty and difficulties accessing welfare. She claims welfare is accessible for those in need and is enough to live on. Newsflash Paula: There’s a huge black-market out there of people struggling to survive on low wages and benefits who do all kinds of things to supplement an inadequate income. read more
    February 4, 2011 12:55 pm - 57 Comments
  • Metiria Turei

    Our people need protection from private power too - by Metiria Turei



    Tariana Turia is reported in yesterdays Wanganui Chronicle talking about the difference that Maori management could bring to prisons and the nearly 50% of prisoners who are Maori. I agree that Maori must be more involved. Where that has happened there have been real successes. I agree with her when she says: “Our people continue [...] read more
    March 17, 2009 9:52 am - 13 Comments
  • Metiria Turei

    Three strikes bill gets two warnings, one more and it’s out? - by Metiria Turei



    Chris Finalyson, Attorney General has released the Bill of Rights report on the Three strikes and you’re out (Sentencing and Parole) bill. It won’t surprise you that the Bill fails the vet. The NZ Herald reports that there is an “apparent inconsistency” with the section of the Bill of Rights protecting New Zealanders against cruel, degrading [...] read more
    March 2, 2009 2:46 pm - 41 Comments
  • frog

    The prison business - by frog



    Mr Key confirmed that National will allow competitive tendering for the management of prisons on a case-by-case basis. As Metiria notes: How is the free market the answer to the problems of running a prison system? The key to a successful business is repeat customers. That creates a perverse incentive. Yup, can you see Lock [...] read more
    October 28, 2008 4:54 pm - 40 Comments
  • frog

    A better law and order policy - by frog



    National wants to spend a $300 million dollars building a new prison to lock up more criminals.  10 more criminals to be precise.  I could see why it would want to do that because it would be the first to admit that Labour’s three extra prisons so far have bought an end to violent crime. [...] read more
    October 9, 2008 7:49 am - 9 Comments
  • frog

    Cowboy justice - by frog



    National’s law and order announcements are about as Wild West as they come. As Colin Espiner says: National has this morning bowed to those beating the law and order drum, releasing a parole policy so punitive it makes the United States look like a bastion of liberalism by comparison… The implications of National’s new policy [...] read more
    October 6, 2008 1:31 pm - 40 Comments
  • frog

    The freedom to sing - by frog



    There are gangs other than the type we fuss about here in New Zealand.  Such as for instance the Mafia. The Mafia does not stereotypically wear patches so they are harder to use as an easy target for the type of ‘tough on law and order‘ talk Chester Burrows, Michael Laws and Phil Goff enjoy. [...] read more
    September 15, 2008 1:28 pm - 2 Comments
  • frog

    “Good police officers are going to get hurt” - by frog



    A good shorthand way to tell if Parliament is voting to remove people’s civil liberties is to look for those bills that the Greens, Act and the Maori Party oppose but Labour, National, United Future and New Zealand First support.  Such is the case with Chester Burrows’ Wanganui District Council (Prohibition of Gang Insignia) Bill. [...] read more
    July 31, 2008 9:34 am - 205 Comments
  • frog

    South Auckland – the real issues - by frog



    It’s worth picking a few quotes out of Sue Bradford’s speech on crime in South Auckland to Parliament earlier this week: The law and order parties in this House were given a tremendous bonus a couple of weeks ago when the sequence of four tragic murders in South Auckland sparked a ferocious law and order [...] read more
    June 28, 2008 10:29 pm - 73 Comments
  • frog

    Criminal Procedures Act amendments - by frog



    Last night Parliament voted overwhelmingly to amend a whole range of provisions in the Criminal Procedures Act. Like far too many of Labour’s bills it was packed full of a great deal of different issues, limiting Parliament’s ability to pick the good and reject the bad. Most notably these amendments included a change that allows [...] read more
    June 20, 2008 5:04 pm - 12 Comments
  • frog

    Server in the Sky - by frog



    The FBI in the United States is one of those few acronyms that doesn’t really need explaining, thanks to a sufficiency of US crime dramas provided to us for our entertainment. And if you’ve watched enough of those dramas you’ll also know that apart from sunglasses and dark suits there is nothing the FBI likes [...] read more
    January 17, 2008 8:51 am - 24 Comments
  • frog

    A local Innocence Project - by frog



    It is nearly ten years since New Zealand spent its summer holidays watching on the news what might these days have been termed CSI Picton.   A few weeks ago Nandor called for case of the murders of Olivia Hope and Ben Smart to be re-opened.  This followed further yachties coming forward and saying they saw [...] read more
    December 12, 2007 3:55 pm - 38 Comments