We need a change of values so that people can feel safe on the streets and in their own homes. Photo / Warren Buckland
We need a change of values so that people can feel safe on the streets and in their own homes. Photo / Warren Buckland
Opinion
OPINION:
One person I spoke to this month said gangs, guns, and ram raids feel like the new normal. Not seeing any alternative, they felt defeated into accepting it. Do we really want to get used to violence? Unfortunately, that's where we're going. It's the consequence of having no consequences for crime.
Another woman said she now takes an Uber door-to-door from the city to home. She doesn't feel safe walking the short distance from a building to the carpark. It's not right or fair that law-abiding Kiwis are changing their behaviours to keep themselves safe, when criminals get away with misbehaviour.
Parents should be able to tuck their kids into bed with the peace of mind that their kids won't wake up to the sound of gunfire. Shop owners trying to make a living shouldn't need to fear kids in cars ramming their store, threatening them, or shoplifting.
We need a change of values so that people can feel safe on the streets and in their own homes.
It comes down to consequences. At one of the community meetings I hosted this month, a woman told me about one of her family members. He's not a good guy. He has a long list of convictions and doesn't fear being locked up. He knows he'll be placed straight back on parole.
Then along comes our Labour Government with an early Christmas present for the worst offenders of all. You can say what you like about Three Strikes, but here's what removing it means.
Until Labour removed the law, people with previous "strikes" were heading for a maximum sentence if they committed another violent or sexual offence. Now they don't have to worry about getting the max.
Leaders and policies send signals to the community, including the criminal community. You can't blame wayward youth for giving crime a chance when the Government is softening the consequences of it for the worst of the worst offenders.
If someone has been at the receiving end of violence from a gang member, or attacked with a weapon, they deserve to feel safe knowing the offender is serving time, not just down the road in the comfort of their home.
You can't count on that either. My Act colleague Toni Severin's questions in Parliament have uncovered a mushrooming of home detention. There are around 6000 on home detention. Nearly 900 are gang members. Over 300 of them were sentenced for violent offences. Forty-four of them were sentenced for violent offences with a weapon.
The other number that's rising is the number that are absconding from home detention. It's the most extraordinary display of the Government's values. They think reducing the prison population is worth it, even at risk to public safety.
Our approach to crime needs to be underpinned by better values. People who break the law still have rights, but those rights come after the rights of their victims. Here are some ideas for putting victims first.
Every year judges order millions of dollars in reparations to victims. Many don't get it. Others get a little reminder on every bank statement for years. How? The pitiful victim gives them 65 cents a fortnight. The Government should pay out the victims then go after the criminals.
The taxpayer would wear the cost of any uncollected debts, but it would be a small price for giving victims some closure and showing the offender a bigger bully.
On youth crime, we should go hard and early (why waste a good slogan?) There won't be many ram-raiding kids who didn't start small, get away with it, and go bigger. Kids need to learn that there are consequences for their actions – the faster that lesson can be learned, the less likely they are to reoffend.
The trouble is the kids are faster than the system, they're committing another crime before the ink dries on the endless paperwork. Right now there are thousands of unassigned cases because Youth Aid police have been tied up policing Covid hotels for two years. I hope they catch up but I don't like their chances with the current bureaucracy.
Instant Practical Penalties would fix that. Kids would get instant penalties like cleaning graffiti and apologising to shopkeepers under an infringement notice regime. Under an infringement notice, you can challenge the punishment if you think you're innocent, but it's easier to pay the penalty. We do it for speeding, why not naughty kids?
The values are putting victims first and acting fast so offenders pay consequences. If we started applying the basic ideas criminals are guilty, victims are innocent, fix it as fast as possible, we could all live safer.
As long as we live by the values of shifting blame and burning up time with bureaucracy, we're on a slow slip to being the new Johannesburg.
• Brooke van Velden, MP, is the deputy leader of the Act Party.
