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Articles of Interest

The Poison Chalice - Systematic Failures Within the New Zealand Mental Health System A Presentation To the Annual Sensible Sentencing Trust Victims Conference in September 2012 by Graham Moyle, Mental Health Spokesman. An outstanding and in-depth analysis of this issue that presents all the problems with ample supporting data along with some proposed solutions.

Goals of Sentencing - Why the Justice system is failing An excellent essay from our Wellington branch Communications / Media Advisor Murray Tennent-Brown. This essay pinpoints a core issue with our Justice system and why it is currently failing those whom it is meant to serve

Pauline Colmar Poll on Crime Issues The results of a recent poll of 1000 people done in May 2011. The results will come as no great surprise to most of us...

Chain Gangs: Are they archaic, brutal and inhumane or do they work to lower the recidivistic crime rate? An essay from University student Justine Sturm.

Research International Law and Order survey NZ the results of a recent independent survey on this issue carried out in New Zealand by Research International. This survey was carried out in June/July 2009. The results will not please some.

Crime is not a Hopeless Problem another article by Jennifer E. Walsh, Ph.D., a Professor of Political Science at Azusa Pacific University in Los Angeles County, California. She is also the author of Three Strikes Laws (Greenwood Publishing, 2007), and recently testified before the Law and Order Select Committee about the Sentencing and Parole Reform Bill currently under consideration.

Three Strikes - some Alternative Views two pieces by Jennifer Walsh, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminalistics at California State University, and Joseph M. Bessette is Professor of Government at Claremont McKenna College. These present the other side of the debate to that which is often found in the media here, particularly in regards to the California Three Strikes Law

New York Reprise A personal account of a changed city, by our webmaster who recently had the pleasure of a short stay there.

Self Defence A well-argued guest article by Lech Beltowski, a medical doctor and spokesman for the Sporting Shooters’ Association of New Zealand on this issue which continues to raise it's head in cases such as that where a gun shop staff member had to defend himself and others from a knife wielding offender. The earlier case involving Northland farmer Paul McIntyre is another example of many.

Europe fact finding trip A Summary of the findings of the trip taken by Garth in early 2006 to London, Amsterdam and Helsinki with the Minister of Corrections

Preventing Homicide - the relevance of a previous history of violence; demonstrates that over 50% of homicides are committed by offenders with previous histories of violence, and that incapacitation is the best means of reducing this risk.

It could be even worse.... describing the effect of medical advances in Trauma Care on our Homicide rate. Huge medical advances in the last 50 years have served to mask the true increase in violence since the 70's

Paedophilia a critique of the long term performance of rehabilitation and treatment programmes and an examination of the stability and immutability of paraphilias with a particular empahsis on paedophilia. An utterly revolting but also vitally important subject.

Sex Offenders, recidivism & chemical castration an excellent and well researched article on this subject contributed by MP Marc Alexander. Contains a few disquieting home truths, plus gives hope for solutions that will actually work long term.

Singapore - Law and Order lessons from the Merlion What Singapore is doing right - and what we can learn from that. An examination of the justice system and policing in Singapore, looking at what aspects of the Singapore way could - and could not be - adopted for use here in New Zealand.

The Causes of Crime - Nature AND Nuture where we have a bash at dealing with the curly questions raised by recent research in the fields of evolutionary psychology, neurobiology and behavioural genetics, and look at the way genetic and biological factors can interact with social factors to affect violent crime

Human Rights where we ask the question "is UNLIMITED legal aid and representation a human right?" and analyse the issue of human rights, as they relate to criminals and the rest of us

Deterrence An outline of the case for the deterrent effect of tougher sentences, plus some supporting evidence and links to more indepth reports and evidence.

Information wants to be Free an examination of the issues around criminal databases (such as our own one on this site), and the right of the public to access to such information. Also looks at government attempts to control such information and why they are doomed to fail in the long run.

This Works - Tough Love! an article from the Sunday Star Times about an extremely successful youth crime prevention programme run in Napier by Senior Constable Angus Dellow, which has halved youth crime rates in a two year period. Read this, and then the next article to see that what he is doing has sound support...

Too Much Self-Esteem! From Scientific American Magazine (April 2001), this article explodes the low self-esteem myth prevalent in our schools and amongst many of our other social agencies. The author, an American social psychologist and researcher, conclusively demonstrates that the problem with most violent criminals is that they have far too much self-esteem, rather than not enough. Anyone who is familiar with the nature of local offenders such as Malcolm Rewa and many of our gang members, will readily concur that his findings are just as relevant to New Zealand society as that of the United States.

Lock 'em up and throw away the key... a cost/benefit analysis of long term imprisonment for repeat violent offenders based on Ministry of Justice Reports except where otherwise specified, plus the outcome of several overseas studies, taking into account the costs incurred by the victim and by society as a whole.

Does Prison Pay? a similar American study in greater depth by John J DiLulio and Anne Morrison Phiel, from 1995, showing that imprisonment is a cost-effective solution for violent offenders.

Should we get even tougher on criminals? an article on the tough law and order stance taken by the State of Virginia in 1995 under Governor George Allen. Recounts what was done, the justification behind it and the struggles he had implementing it.

The New Zealand Economic Cost of Domestic Violence a short summary of the findings of this in depth study by Suzanne Snively, released by Coopers Lybrand (now PriceWaterhouse Coopers) in December 1994 and commissioned by the Family Violence Unit of the Department of Social Welfare (now WINZ). And it barely touches on the horrific social and emotional cost...

New York a stunning example of what happens when Zero Tolerance and other effective policing methods are applied in earnest. New York as recently as ten years ago thought to be a basket case, beyond hope. Within a few years Rudy Giuliani and others turned it around, with the result that murder dropped by an astounding 65%....

Work versus Prison a piece of humour to lighten things up a bit....

Sir Robert Peels Nine Principles of Policing from 1822. Amazing how applicable these timeless principles first stated by the founder of modern policing are still today.