Is a military academy, extended prison stays really the answer to crime?
Opposition justice spokesperson Paul Goldsmith has visited Invercargill businesses affected by crime.
Opposition justice spokesperson Paul Goldsmith has visited Invercargill businesses affected by crime and says there is frustration not enough consequences are in place for offenders.
National Party’s Goldsmith would not give specifics as to what businesses he visited in Invercargill today [Thursday] but said they were in retail and had been “robbed and done over”.
“Hearing from them, the message is a very similar one as to what we hear all over the country. There is genuine frustration of no real consequence for what are real serious crimes.”
“There was just a share frustration that people come in, they’ve got pictures of [the offenders] and the system is slow to respond. People are not being held to account. The wheels of justice is slow, but sometimes it’s not happening at all.
“They get to the point where they feel it’s not even worth reporting the low-level stuff.”
They day before Goldsmith’s visit a grey Subaru Legacy sedan was stolen in Invercargill and the vehicle was then used in four burglaries between 5.15am and 5.40am at commercial addresses on Yarrow, Leven, Herbert and Windsor streets.
Goldsmith believed there was only one key target in the justice sector at the moment and that was to reduce the prison population by 30 percent.
He said if elected National would put more emphasis on consequences.
“The broader message is we want to end this culture of excuses and focus the system on holding people to account.”
Late last year the National Party announced its policy to tackle youth crime which included the plan to introduce a military academy for up to a year to help rehabilitate serious young offenders.
But do military style “boot camps” actually work? And haven’t they already been tried in the past and to not all that great affect?
“Please explain to me how the current system is working?” Goldsmith responded.
“We’ve got to innovate and try different things. We are not proposing to do exactly what was done in the past, what we are proposing is a longer period of a military academy followed by intensive community support for that person.”
“Our real concern is this culture of excuses has permutated through our justice system at the moment and we are reaping the consequences.”
National’s military-style academy policy received criticism from those currently in Government saying the policy has already failed in the past.
Grant Robertson, who at the time was acting prime minister, said the wraparound services the government provided were starting to have an effect on crime carried out by young people.
Minister of Justice Kiri Allan said putting young criminals together in an army camp was a recipe for fully fledged nationwide criminal networks.