ACT pledge 'racist & inhumane'

[Lilith7]

ACT have pledged to abolish cultural reports provided to judges. A law lecturer says this is  racist & devoid of compassion & humanity. 

It would be damned near miraculous if our political parties were to acknowlege the reality that harsh penalties don't always bring about the change in criminal behaviour they like to claim & instead, actually looked at what works, rather than than vote catching by appealing to the 'lock em up brigade'.



https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/other/act...8b446&ei=8

"Act’s pledge to abolish cultural reports is racist and devoid of compassion and humanity. Cultural reports are designed to provide judges with important detail and context about a person who has committed a crime, and any events or issues that may have contributed to their offending.

Act is claiming that cultural reports are being used to “favour criminals and go soft on victims”, that they are a misuse of public funds and that scrapping them will “make our country safer and ensure that sentencing is appropriate to the crime”.




But these claims have no basis in evidence and reality.

[b]Lecturer Fuimaono Dylan Asafo[/b]•3h

[b]pinion by Auckland University Law Lecturer Fuimaono Dylan Asaf[/b]

It is clear that Act has not researched cultural reports, but that they are taking figures and statistics out of context and exploiting recent tragedies for their own political gain.

The reality is that these cultural reports (which National also wants to cut funding for) are one of the few ways that our criminal legal system can show compassion and humanity. They not only allow judges to do their jobs reliably and accurately by seeing crimes and the people who commit them in context.

They also allow judges to more deeply consider why someone has come to the moment they are in as they stand before the court. These reports enable judges to understand more about a person, their life and background, rather than simply the details of their offence.

Unlike Act, there are many experts in the criminal legal system who have carefully studied how cultural reports work. These experts have told us time and time again that these reports are essential to keep communities safe and create a fair and equal society for all.

Another experienced lawyer, Russell Fairbrother, has stated that cultural reports bring a “natural humanity” to the system and that anybody with a sense of decency, would want someone being sentenced to have their background considered.

“You’ve got to be able to understand why someone responds in the way that they respond...because you can’t address the problem until you identify it and then find a way out,” says Fairbrother."

Its dificult to comprehend that any political party can be so willfully ignorant. There are any number of various reports & studies which show  that harsh methods do not work well, & can instead have the effect of creating lifelong criminals - which virtually no one wants.