Hard News: Perception and reality in the criminal justice system
79 Responses
First ←Older Page 1 2 3 4 Newer→ Last
-
So, essentially, the thing that reversed the steady rise in the proportion of offenders being sentenced to imprisonment was the introduction of home and community detention and intensive supervision...
Yet the minsiter insists, to the point of personally abusing Kim Workman, that a slight drop in prison numbers can only be due to a decreased reoffending rate (though she declines to offer any direct evidence).
-
Russell Brown, in reply to
Yet the minsiter insists, to the point of personally abusing Kim Workman, that a slight drop in prison numbers can only be due to a decreased reoffending rate (though she declines to offer any direct evidence).
The comments the minister directed at Workman bordered on actionable.
-
I'm sure the Minister, like the Prime Minister, can find a legal expert who will disagree with the other legal experts.
-
Two years jail for a personal stash of coke and some bud is waaaaay over the top - especially for a 60yr old guy!
-
Is it possible to read the phrase "penal intensity" without sniggering? I know I can't.
-
Emma Hart, in reply to
Yay, not just me.
-
Russell Brown, in reply to
Two years jail for a personal stash of coke and some bud is waaaaay over the top – especially for a 60yr old guy!
For puzzled readers, that's a reference to Rick Bryant's sentencing today. It seems harsh in isolation -- Bryant dealt pot to grown-ups he knew -- but I expect his history of marijuana convictions was a factor.
He'd have been much safer opening a bar, basically.
-
And isn't it ironic the private prison system has brought us 'Mt Eden Club Med'? The Two Minutes Hate brigade will never be happy.
The prison system seems to have gone from rehabbing those who've done wrong, to an acceptable face of a neo-apartheid system - not of race, but class.
-
vangam, in reply to
We should ask ourselves, what causes greater harm to the community - the bar or the pot-den? Seems to me the small number of people he sold pot to would have a much smaller social cost than the thousands who would theoretically frequent his bar.
-
Just in: Contains crime policy, public perception, online poll, McVicar
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1106/S00247/poll-shows-government-out-of-touch-with-voters.htm -
It always seems to me that those with the most to say, on these matters, are those who have not sat in Court and listened to the facts presented
Well it is easier -
Russell Brown, in reply to
Just in: Contains crime policy, public perception, online poll, McVicar
Awesome self-selected poll amongst the readers of New Zealand's angriest online forums. Still, excellent timing for us. Thanks for the heads-up.
-
I wonder what Hubbard will get, if convicted. I bet he'll do less than two years - for (allegedly) stealing the best part of $500 from everyone in NZ.
-
So, essentially, the thing that reversed the steady rise in the proportion of offenders being sentenced to imprisonment was the introduction of home and community detention and intensive supervision for the least serious offences.
Without going into too much detail, I've been indirectly involved in aspects of the the home detention process (in my professional role, not as a participant) and I can honestly say it's no picnic. There is a shitload of monitoring that occurs 24 hours a day, and it's often hit or miss whether someone will be successful in even being allowed on home detention. Most people who criticise home d as soft have never seriously thought about how draining it is to have your movements restricted so completely (though ironically, those same people usually belong to the "OMG government is Big Brother!" crowd.)
-
And there's always the chance to be knighted selling beer
-
Hilary Stace, in reply to
Illustrates how stupid the drug laws are. He's no criminal. Just a gentle 62 year old who been entertaining with his music for four decades. What possible purpose does this conviction serve for anyone?
-
Russell Brown, in reply to
Illustrates how stupid the drug laws are. He’s no criminal. Just a gentle 62 year old who been entertaining with his music for four decades. What possible purpose does this conviction serve for anyone?
I actually know a couple of people who used to buy pot from Rick, both of them about my age. They appreciated having somewhere safe, discreet and friendly to go.
Rick being busted has not, of course, stopped them being pot smokers. And all this guff about whether Rick has, in the judge's view, "rehabilitated" or not is absurd. He's a 62 year-old musician who smokes pot. What exactly is he rehabilitating from?
-
Meanwhile in the US people are committing crimes for healthcare. Way of the future?
-
Ian Dalziel, in reply to
...for (allegedly) stealing the best part of $500 from everyone in NZ.
I don't think any of these charges
relate to the collapse and bail out
of South Canterbury Finance...
That's a whole other kettle of fish
- and I would hope some of the blame
may be shared around on that one. -
Could someone please frame McVicar so that he gets to spend a little time actually inside Club Mt Eden?
-
Russell Brown, in reply to
And isn’t it ironic the private prison system has brought us ’Mt Eden Club Med’? The Two Minutes Hate brigade will never be happy.
From that story:
The 10-year contract, which the company says is valued at about $300 million, includes a clause that says the contractor must "ensure meals conform to each prisoner's religious, ethnic, cultural and medical requirements".
A fuming McVicar said last night: "That is disgraceful. A prison is a prison – you have broken the law and I don't think we have to tie the contractor in knots about having to conform with cultural requirements.
"Prison has to be humane, but I don't think we should be bending over to cater for every cultural or religious belief."
Good grief. Is he proposing force-feeding beef to Hindus and pork to Muslims and Jews?
-
Nope, equal opportunity bread & water for everyone.
-
Hey, David Garrett was SST, wasn't he? And McVicar knew about his past, so isn't he an accessory after the fact? How come he wasn't charged?
-
Hilary Stace, in reply to
Yes, even for the coeliacs.
-
Speaking of "accessories after the fact"
Key is now telling Australian media that
Pike River Mine would be illegal in Australia
even though "In November last year, however, he said: "I have no reason to believe that New Zealand safety standards are any less than Australia's."
I think the crucial phrase there is
- I have no reason... something that becomes more and more obvious every day!
Post your response…
This topic is closed.