Maori Party opposes governments law and order legislation

The Maori Party opposes the government’s Sentencing and Parole Reform Bill, saying that getting tough on criminals does not reduce crime or violence.

“Overseas evidence shows that ‘three strikes’ legislation can actually lead to greater violence against victims of crime and the police, it is not a strong deterrent to offending, and is not the most cost-effective way to reduce violent crime, said co-leaders Dr Pita Sharples and Tariana Turia.

“The significant cumulative effect on the size of the prison population – and the additional expense – is unsustainable,” said Mrs Turia.

“There are other unintended consequences of such legislation, like serious under-reporting of violent offending. Many victims of family violence just want the violence to stop – they don’t necessarily want to see perpetrators locked up long term,” she said.

“Because Maori communities are smaller, and whanau networks are typically wider, it is far more likely that crime or violence will personally affect individual Maori, through their relationships with either offenders or a victims.

“The whanau of prisoners are themselves victims of crime, and ‘three strikes’ legislation will affect whanau disproportionately,” said Mrs Turia.

“For all these reasons, we will be opposing this legislation,” said Dr Sharples.

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