Short, sharp sentences answer to prisoner numbers, says Key

John Key

National's John Key says "shorter, sharper" prison sentences might be a more cost-effective way to fight crime and that stiffer financial penalties for some white-collar offenders may be preferable to jailing them.

The comments appear at odds with National Party policy before the last election, which called for longer sentences in a number of cases.

On the surface they also appear to contradict the broad thrust of recent statements by the party's law and order spokesman, Simon Power, who has criticised Government plans to reduce the size of the prison population, asserting National won't "throw open the doors".

Both Mr Power and Mr Key, the party's finance spokesman, both yesterday denied there was any significant difference of opinion.

Mr Power said: "Essentially, we are having an ongoing discussion in caucus about how to address the issue of the prison population."

New Zealand has one of the highest imprisonment rates among developed countries and is seeing an unexpected surge in prisoner numbers, forcing the Government into an expensive prison-building programme.

Justice Minister Mark Burton recently agreed with a Treasury report made public by Mr Power which said prison was not a cost-effective way to reduce crime and might even increase the chances of reoffending.

Mr Key, who confirmed he had spoken at public meetings about "short, sharp shocks", said: "I think there are a variety of options potentially on the table and I'm working very closely with Simon ... to see what we can achieve to get the most cost-efficient and effective system possible.

"What I've reflected is anecdotal evidence that ... that shorter, sharper shocks actually achieve the same outcome.

"Now, I think the cost implications of that and given that we incarcerate on a per capita basis almost more people than any other country except America [means] we do need to go back and look at that international evidence."

Asked to define a short, sharp shock, he said: "The way it was relayed to me is that a prisoner tends to have his greatest fear and therefore the greatest chance of actually discouraging them from wanting to come back to prison if their first six months is a short, sharp experience ... That after about six months they tend to become institutionalised."

He wouldn't define what he meant by "shock" but said he'd been told "If it was a tougher experience but a shorter one, it works better".

The Government has raised the prospect of not sending some lower-level offenders to jail and Mr Key said, "I think we always have to ask the question about whether jail is an appropriate form of discipline.

"It could be with some white-collar crimes that much more serious fines and the taking of people's assets would be a more effective use of taxpayers' money in the sense the taxpayer would gain from those fines as opposed to locking them up.

"But again, that's something for Simon and the caucus to decide. I can only give you a finance perspective, which is that this is a very large spending area and the evidence shows that it's likely to become more expensive."

Mr Power said the caucus was discussing the prison population problem and consulting experts. "But ... my view is firmly that it's at the preventative end of crime [where we should focus] rather than just simply letting people out of prison."

Asked if that meant he was ruling out things like diverting more offenders to home detention, or remanding fewer in custody - the type of options being considered by the Government - he said: "I'm not ruling anything out 2 years before an election. There's a lot in the mix.

"But you don't solve the problem of rising violent and serious crime in New Zealand by dealing with the symptom of it, which is more people in prison, by saying 'We'll just open the doors on 30 per cent of that prison population in order to ease that political pressure'."

Of Mr Key's white-collar crime proposals, Mr Power said: "Happy to have the discussion in caucus about it."