KEY POINTS:
David Garrett's argument for a New Zealand adaptation of the United States' "three strikes and you're out" to deal with violent offenders and prevent such tragedies as the Liam Ashley homicide deserves critique.
Garrett makes two essential points. First, define a "strike" as a violent offence punishable by two years' imprisonment and after the third strike incarcerate offenders before they kill.
His second point is that "we have become a very violent society [and] need to address the root causes of that - as soon as someone can work out what they are". Here is the nub of the problem.
The question becomes one of cause and effect. Three strikes address the effect. Solving the source of our "violent society" addresses the root.
A violent offender imprisoned with no mandatory release requirement cannot commit homicide in the community while incarcerated. Here is the merit of Garrett's contention, reinforced by the Pareto Principle, which suggests that 20 per cent of offenders cause 80 per cent of crime.
If three strikes could reduce murder significantly, who would object?
What questions arise from the three strikes proposition? The US imprisons 700 in each 100,000 people - New Zealand imprisons 184.
Dealing effectively with our violent offending might double the present 7500 in prison, but would we simply be spending our tax dollars on the effects rather than the causes of that violence?
The 1987 Roper Report into violence commented: "The public now has got the community it deserves.
"Permissiveness has gone unchecked as has violence in the visual media, lack of parenting skills are common and awareness of spiritual values is sadly lacking, and the resolution of the problem of violence in New Zealand and the establishment of a more gentle society requires a concerted and simultaneous effort - we are all responsible."
Can we plant seeds of respect and thus "establish a more gentle society"?
Three elements from Roper deserve attention: "unchecked permissiveness", "violence in the visual media", and the "sad lack of parenting skills and spiritual values".
Each is interconnected, and the sum of the whole is greater than its parts. Roper has given us David Garrett's root causes of a violent society.
Violence is associated with power and control. The raised fist, offensive weapons, and cutting and cruel verbal putdowns are the instruments of domination.
Boundaries mandated by respecting others - the "gentle society" - are replaced by a "me first" mentality inaugurated in the permissive 1960s. Self-centred behaviour is exhibited by physical violence.
Children witness conflict resolved by violence instead of negotiation, are frequently victims themselves, and then, as parents, victims become perpetrators.
In no other setting is the breakdown of boundaries more evident than in the family.
Safeguarding boundaries of respect and self-sacrificial love in our extended families must become a paramount applied value to address violence. Roper's "unpalatable truth" presents us with the challenge which we have failed to heed for 20 years.
Violence in the visual media and the lack of spiritual values are evident in the unremitting violence on TV and video, and extensive studies demonstrate the connection between visual images and violent behaviour.
The lack of a spiritual world-view able to create caring commitment as epitomised by the Good Samaritan has profoundly affected a slide into a world where reality and fantasy merge.
"A journey of a thousand miles," says a Chinese proverb, "begins with a single step." How can we start the journey and respond to David Garrett?
First, we must model the behaviour we expect of a kinder, gentler society, espousing self-sacrificial love.
We could make it our aim to have a weekly "random acts of kindness" day.
Second, engage in community endeavours which will advance the vision of a non-violent society. Examples abound, such as Antony Backhouse's and Scott Gilmour's I Have a Dream Trust, which is committed to motivate and empower children from low-income communities to reach their education and career goals by providing a long-term programme of mentoring, tutoring and enrichment. We invite you to get involved with us and start making a difference today (see link below).
Third, dry up revenues from sexual and violent sources by never buying their material or services. Stop Demand's Denise Ritchie calls for global action to stop the child sex trade and all forms of exploitation of children (see link below).
Fourth, become involved in grassroots lobbying. Roper noted a "lack of spiritual values".
David Cunliffe's suggestion, endorsed by Prime Minister Helen Clark, of a Christian grouping within Labour contributing to public debate offers scope for grassroots involvement in the tradition of Martin Luther King's I Have a Dream speech in 1963.
The thousand-mile journey to change New Zealand begins with a single step. David Garrett's ideas about three strikes may have initiated something far more significant than building more prisons.
* Michael Webster is a lecturer at the School of Social and Policy Studies, University of Auckland.
