There Has to be a Better Way - Rethinking Crime and Punishment

THERE HAS TO BE
A BETTER WAY
RETHINKING CRIME & PUNISHMENT

THE CRIMINAL
JUSTICE SYSTEM IS
COSTING TOO MUCH,
FAILING TOO MANY
AND HELPING TOO
FEW. THERE HAS TO
BE A BETTER WAY.
New Zealand, with just 4.5 million people, has one
of the highest rates of imprisonment in the OECD,
well ahead of the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada.
Our prison population grew by 40% in the 10 years to
2013. Though the numbers have thankfully stabilised over
the last two years, they have not declined as would be
expected with the decreasing crime rate.
An offender in prison costs the taxpayer over $90,000 a
year. Every new prison we build costs around half a billion
dollars. We cannot afford to maintain a status quo that
fails so many.
Getting tough on crime is not working. Two thirds of
people who do time in prison reoffend. Fresh thinking is
urgently needed.
02

EXPOSING THE MYTHS
MYTH 1
Our prisons are
full of dangerous
criminals we can’t
risk letting out.
Prison is certainly the right place for hardened and
dangerous criminals but only a tiny number may need
to be in prison for the rest of their lives. The safety of
the community is paramount – some people are too serious
a threat to be released into the community. We already have
effective systems in place to manage them.
Many people in prison do not need to be there. Seventy
percent of offenders sentenced to prison last year were
released within seven months. The challenge for New
Zealand is to find better ways to hold offenders accountable
for their actions and reduce the likelihood they will reoffend.
Rehabilitation
is the goal so they can make a useful contribution to society.
MYTH 2
Prison is the best way
to deter crime.
Prison is not an effective deterrent at all. Research
indicates that punishment, or the threat of punishment, does
not stop people committing crime, especially the violent,
impulsive crime we are most concerned about.
Secondly, two thirds of our prisoners re-offend within two
years. For Maori, the figure is nearly 70%. In reality, prison
brutalises and hardens people, which greatly increases their
chances of re-offending.
Our prisons are a school for crime where young offenders
learn from hardened criminals. It’s the wrong place to send
people who have committed relatively minor offences.
Prison also breaks up families and leads to long-term
unemployment. This too contributes to the likelihood of
further offending. Many people see harsher sentences as the
answer to crime but the evidence shows that the longer the
prison sentence, the more likely prisoners are to re-offend.
03

MYTH 3
ONCE A CRIMINAL,
ALWAYS A CRIMINAL.
This is not true. The call for longer and longer
sentences ignores the reality that crime is a young
person’s game. Most of those who commit crime in
their teenage years come to realise that they have too
much to lose by carrying on with a life of crime – a
partner, a family, mokopuna, a job. Very few remain
criminals after their mid-30s.
MYTH 4
Rehabilitating
offenders doesn’t
work.
There’s plenty of evidence that prison and community
programmes that address drug and alcohol addictions, sex
offending, anger and violence issues can have very positive
results, especially when they have the support of family,
whanau and friends. New Zealand is already doing a lot
in this area but more effort and resources are essential to
make a lasting difference.
04

MYTH 5
The more people
we put in prison,
the safer our
communities will be.
Crime has its roots in the community and this is where
the problems must be addressed. We need initiatives that
address the root causes of crime – poverty, unemployment,
addictions, lack of skills and opportunities. The Government’s
Drivers of Crime strategy calls for early intervention with
children, addressing drug and alcohol problems, targeting
low-level offending and dealing with disorderly conduct in the
community. This is how we will make our communities safer,
not just by locking people up.
If we keep imprisoning people at the rate we are now, all we
are doing is postponing the inevitable. We are leaving our
children and grandchildren to deal with the consequences
when these people get out of prison.
MYTH 6
There is no real
alternative to prison.
For a few offenders this is true, but for the majority
there are better alternatives, such as the use of
specialist courts to deal with drug, alcohol and family
violence issues, and strengthening and expanding
community sentencing options. The marae-based Kooti
Rangatahi youth courts, where judges are involved in the
monitoring of youth offenders, is a success. The focus
of these initiatives is on repairing relationships and
addressing the needs of both victims and offenders.
Given the right environment, rehabilitation programmes
in prison can work but community-based programmes are
more effective and cost the taxpayer less.
05

MYTH 7
IT’S MONEY WELL SPENT.
$
Nothing wastes public money more than imprisoning
people at the rate New Zealand does. New Zealand
spends $1.2 billion of public money a year on administering
sentences through the Department of Corrections and over
$90,000 a year on each prisoner, most of whom reoffend.
Corrections and justice spending is one of the fastest
growing areas of State spending.
It’s hard to think of another area of public spending where
there is such a poor return on investment and so little
accountability for the money spent. In the current economic
climate, New Zealand’s obsession with imprisonment is
unsustainable. Just ask the United States – they’re the
no. 1 incarcerator in the Western world and it’s bankrupting
them. They’re now seriously seeking alternatives to
imprisonment.
MYTH 8
IT’S WHAT EVERYONE
WANTS.
The impulse to imprison people is a common emotional,
knee-jerk reaction, often shaped by how a small number of
crimes are sensationalised in the media. But research shows
that when people are well informed about how ineffective
prison actually is as a crime deterrent, they arrive at a different
conclusion – that most offences, especially minor ones, are
best dealt with at a community level.
06

MYTH 9
Prison is the only
way to get tough
on crime and hold
people accountable.
MYTH 10
IT’S THE BEST WAY
OF DOING RIGHT BY
THE VICTIMS.
Imprisoning people isn’t getting tough on crime at all.
Removing offenders from the community actually makes it
easier for them. They don’t have to face up to what they’ve
done and they are not really accountable.
But it also means they lose their job and any support they
could receive from family, whanau or the community to
change their behaviour. When they are released, offenders
are often without support systems which leads to further
offending. The impact on family and whanau when a
parent is imprisoned can be devastating – around half of
all relationships fail. The children of prisoners are seven
times more likely to end up in prison than the children of
non-prisoners.
A far more effective strategy would enable offenders to
acknowledge the harm they have done to their victims and
the community, and get the support they need to successfully
reintegrate into society.
Rethinking Crime and Punishment wants to reduce the
number of victims. We will never achieve that by sending
record numbers of people to prison and then expecting them to
reappear in society as model citizens.
New Zealand needs a much stronger emphasis on restorative
justice, which puts victims at the heart of the justice process.
Our current system excludes and disempowers victims. Victims
who go through a restorative process almost invariably support it.
The money saved from imprisoning people could be better spent
on restorative justice programmes – helping victims and building
better, safer communities.
07

MYTH 11
NEW ZEALAND CAN BE
PROUD OF THE WAY IT
GETS TOUGH ON CRIME.
Having one of the highest rates of imprisonment in the
OECD is hardly a great advert for our country. A study of
Maori men born in 1975 revealed that nearly a quarter had
been through the criminal justice system before they were 20
and 44% had been sentenced by the age of 35. Is this really
how we want the world to see us?
‘..NEARLY A QUARTER (OF MAORI MEN)
HAD BEEN THROUGH THE CRIMINAL
JUSTICE SYSTEM BEFORE THEY WERE 20..’
MYTH 12
WE ARE JUST
DOING WHAT OTHER
COUNTRIES ARE DOING.
No, we are resorting to prison far more frequently
than all comparable countries, except the USA.
Even in the United States, which leads the world in
imprisonment statistics, politicians have recognised that
prisons have become unaffordable and ineffective and
they are pursuing alternatives.
08

PROFILE OF A PRISONER
The stereotype is that all criminals
are well-connected masterminds.
In reality:
• 90% have significant literacy issues.
• 50% will lose their partner while
in prison.
• 90% have drug and alcohol issues.
• 60% have mental health issues.
• Many were abused as children.
THE WAY FORWARD
THERE IS A BETTER WAY.
WE NEED TO:
Develop practical and proven alternatives to prison for
low-level repeat offenders
Expand community sentencing options and give judges
greater power and involvement
Properly re-integrate prisoners back into the community
Make restorative justice more available, especially
prior to release when the offender is in prison
Work with iwi and whanau to reduce the very high rate
of Maori imprisonment
Address the real drivers of crime - poverty,
unemployment, poor housing and education.
09

DO YOU KNOW?
• 8,600 PEOPLE ARE
CURRENTLY IN
NEW ZEALAND PRISONS.
• OVER THE LAST 10
YEARS OUR PRISON
POPULATION HAS
INCREASED BY 40%.
• There are 23,000
receptions into
New Zealand prisons
every year.
• It costs a billion dollars a
year to run the Department of
Corrections.
• It costs over $90,000 a year to
keep each prisoner.
• New Zealand has the second
highest imprisonment rate
against all comparable
countries (only the USA higher).
• Cost of locking up a prisoner
has increased by 38% in real
terms BETWEEN 2005 AND 2011.
MAKE A DIFFERENCE
THERE’S PLENTY YOU CAN
DO TO HELP. HERE ARE A
FEW SUGGESTIONS.
Invite a speaker from Rethinking
Crime and Punishment or
JustSpeak to talk to your local
community or service organisation.
Go to the Speakers’ Bureau section
on our website.
Become more informed. Go to our
website www.rethinking.org.nz and sign
up for our newsletter. You’ll find plenty
of research and background material on
crime and punishment issues.
Discuss the issue with your friends and family next
time the news is on. Real change happens at street level.
Make your local councillor or MP aware of your views
and ask them to back the Drivers of Crime Strategy.
Volunteer your services to one of the organisations
involved with prisons and the justice system. Here are a few
to consider: Rethinking Crime and Punishment, JustSpeak,
the Howard League for Penal Reform, Prison Fellowship,
Prisoners Aid and Rehabilitation Service (PARS) and the
Salvation Army.
Make a donation to Rethinking to support our ongoing
public education programmes. You can do this through
the website.
10

ABOUT US
Rethinking Crime and Punishment is a strategic
initiative to increase public debate about the use
of prison and alternative forms of punishment in
New Zealand.
ROBSON HANAN TRUST Office:
Phone: 04 803 3930
Email RETHINKING:
info@rethinking.org.nz
RETHINKING WEBSITE:
www.rethinking.org.nz
Email JUSTSPEAK:
justspeaknz@gmail.com
JUSTSPEAK WEBSITE:
www.justspeak.org.nz
Our aim is to:
• Increase people’s understanding
of criminal justice issues
• Introduce fresh thinking about
alternatives
• Encourage active community
involvement and engagement
• Promote transparency and
accountability.
Or find us both on Facebook.
Physical Address:
Level 1, Southmark House
203 Willis Street
Wellington
For more about us, see www.rethinking.org.nz
or give us a call.
Postal Address:
Robson Hanan Trust
P.O. Box 6884
MARION SQUARE
WELLINGTON 6141
NEW ZEALAND