Minister of Justice Andrew Little in Whangarei recently. Mr Little believes people who break the law are citizens which the state has a responsibility to bring back into society's fold.
Minister of Justice Andrew Little in Whangarei recently. Mr Little believes people who break the law are citizens which the state has a responsibility to bring back into society's fold.
Andrew Little has looked and acted suitably magisterial since becoming Minister of Justice.
He seems genuine in his belief that the New Zealand judicial system should operate under the best principles, ultimately with the goal of serving the country's citizens. And that means all of them, criminals included.
It's his view that people who break the law are citizens which the state has a responsibility to bring back into society's fold. Without mincing his words, he rejects the approach of the previous Government: "Longer sentences, more prisoners it doesn't work, and it has to stop."
While he concedes some "bad bastards" deserve to be locked away for a long time, his concern is with another range of criminal behaviours being punished to excess (minor drug offences being the most obvious).
Northland Regional Correction Facility / Ngawha Prison near Kaikohe. As a percentage of the total population, New Zealand's prison rates are approaching the levels of the United States.
With the likelihood that racist attitudes amongst the police and judiciary has resulted in the disproportionate imprisonment of young Maori men.
It seems to me, however, that the conversation Little wants to have about sentencing and prison rehabilitation can't be divorced from what's going on in the society from which criminals are emerging.
It's a near truism that the numbers of people incarcerated is directly proportional to the degree of division in society.
If a society is divided, then you'd expect a high proportion of imprisonment, or more commonly in history, executions (as keeping people in prison for an extended period can be costly).
And so today it's no surprise that the United States, the most unequal society in the world, has a massive prison population. While the most equitable countries, Japan, Finland, Sweden, Norway, have the lowest levels of incarceration.
Sadly, as a percentage of the total population, New Zealand's prison rates are approaching the levels of the United States. For Maori, it's in excess, with 609 in prison per 100,000 of the population, which is six times the rate of non-Maori imprisonment.
That's not simply the result of harsh bail and parole laws, but a product of New Zealand becoming far more unequal over the past 30 years.
If young adults, in particular, don't see that they have an equal stake in the society in which they live ― being locked in generational poverty or on the receiving end of institutional racism and every day "soft discrimination" ― then they might feel very uncharitable to the world that's uncharitable to them.
Much can be done to reduce repeat offending, via community sentencing, education opportunities within prisons, reducing the numbers on remand, but it's the world outside that must change, too.
Otherwise, a hardline attitude to criminal offending, a natural response to people feeling unsafe (whether that's reality or perception, thanks to the exposure violent crime gets in the media) will only return with a change of government.
A lasting reduction in prison numbers will only be achieved if this Government is successful in tackling inequality, through reform of the tax system, provision of public housing, plus regional job creation and just labour laws.
