It is clear we do need to try things differently. Despite recent small falls in the prison muster, New Zealand still remains on the hook for brand new prison builds that cost billions. Every new prisoner added to the approximately 10,000 muster now costs taxpayers $120,000 each year to lock up.
Putting the costs aside, this represents more victims, more families deeply impacted, the sanctity of people's homes shattered, and lifelong problems for everyone involved.
At the heart of our efforts to deliver safer and more effective justice must be victims, and everything we do must aim to ensure fewer victims, fewer lives upended by criminal behaviour.
When we speak to Kiwis there's a clear view that no one expects better justice outcomes by throwing more prisons at the problem. Despite 20 years of a consistent "get tough on crime" approach, recidivism rates remain stubbornly high. That is, in the words of my colleague Tracey McIntosh, "fully funded failure".
We're hearing that victims of crime simply end up being court witnesses to deeply hurtful events in their own lives, with little support to navigate the adversarial court processes. Victims of sexual crime tell us that if it were to happen again they wouldn't report it. How on earth can we be satisfied with this outcome?
And there is widespread acceptance, especially among people with lived experience, that locking up young people alongside hardened criminals most often leads to hardened antisocial attitudes and a harder job to keep these kids away from a future of crime.
Yet with every high profile crime, we face the same calls: "get tougher on crime, lock them up and throw away the key, stop throwing good money after bad people".
That's why we need a courageous conversation in New Zealand, to encourage better understandings of the complex drivers of crime and foster innovative and sustainable solutions.
Generally, the more someone has had lived experience of the criminal justice system, the more likely it is they'll understand that people in the system have failed in, or been failed by, education, family structure, social services, mental health and employment.
The people in prison come from the poorest neighbourhoods and are more likely to have low educational achievement, poor health – especially mental health - poor housing, low income and employment, high incidence of drug and alcohol dependency, and been brought up in state-care.
There's a growing understanding that solutions must be found in our agencies that deal with these problems. Reducing the prison muster isn't about softer sentencing, it's about providing the right care and attention at critical stages of a person's life. Getting "tough on crime" doesn't actually address the causes of crime.
The justice system needs to do far better and be far fairer for Māori because in every aspect of investigation, prosecution, sentencing and reincarceration Māori offenders are treated more harshly than any other race appearing on the same charges and with the same criminal history. No reasonable explanation has ever been given for this disparity.
The growing realisation I have is that the report we write is far more than recommendations to deliver safe and effective justice; it's a report, through the lens of justice, for how we can improve the wellbeing of all New Zealanders.
This is a generational opportunity to reform the justice system for all New Zealanders. One we must take.
• Chester Borrows is chairman of the Safe and Effective Justice Programme Advisory Group Te Uepū Hāpai i te Ora. The public meeting is in the New Lynn Community Centre, starting at 1pm on Wednesday. Online comment can be made here.
