Tena koutou katoa.
This week the Parliament debated the first reading of the Gangs and Organised Crime bill. The bill increases the sentence for participation in an organised criminal group, increases the powers of local government and increase the police interception warrant capacity.
It fails to address the recidivism rate by assuming that extra time in prison will reduce crime outside prison. This is demonstrably wrong as in fact the longer the sentence the more likely the offender is to reoffend and of course once a gang member is taken off the street the vacum is quickly filled by others waiting to take their place. The bill fails to consider the underlying causes of gang membership or support the initiatives for restorative justice and community leadership in this area. As long as National ignores these underlying causes (or makes them worse) they will simply continue to feed gangs with nrew recruits.
We opposed the bill because it will not make the community safer. My speech is here. You can find our policy here.
The bill is before the Law and Order select committee. Submissions are being sought now and close on 27 March 2008. Send them to the Clerk of the Law and Order Committee, Parliament Buildings, Parliament. You can find the bill here.
