01-07-2025, 12:14 PM
Every so often one of our delightful govts will decide to 'get tough' on crime, & bring ever harsher penalties. Generally it does gain votes; no one likes crime & no one wants more of it.
And yet statistics show that, by voting foe those harsher penalties, that is exactly what they're voting for. And really, you'd expect politicians of all stripes to be aware of that since surely a part of their job is to check these things.
So in voting for yet harsher penalties, either those politicians are deeply ignorant - or they're not averse to potentially ruining lives in order to appear 'tough on crime' in order to gain support.
I think its high time that we set about educating high schools pupils & Uni students about the effects of harsher penalties.
https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/news/2023/...recidivism.
"As someone who works in the criminal justice sector, the recent policy proposals by major political parties make we wonder whether politicians are more concerned about appearing hard on crime than they are with reducing criminal offending.
This long-standing punitive approach to crime withstands the plethora of evidence and research that disproves its effectiveness for reducing re-offending. On the contrary, criminal justice experts and statisticians have consistently said harsher sentencing increases recidivism".
And yet statistics show that, by voting foe those harsher penalties, that is exactly what they're voting for. And really, you'd expect politicians of all stripes to be aware of that since surely a part of their job is to check these things.
So in voting for yet harsher penalties, either those politicians are deeply ignorant - or they're not averse to potentially ruining lives in order to appear 'tough on crime' in order to gain support.
I think its high time that we set about educating high schools pupils & Uni students about the effects of harsher penalties.
https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/news/2023/...recidivism.
"As someone who works in the criminal justice sector, the recent policy proposals by major political parties make we wonder whether politicians are more concerned about appearing hard on crime than they are with reducing criminal offending.
This long-standing punitive approach to crime withstands the plethora of evidence and research that disproves its effectiveness for reducing re-offending. On the contrary, criminal justice experts and statisticians have consistently said harsher sentencing increases recidivism".
in order to be old & wise, you must first be young & stupid. (I'm still working on that.)