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The rate of reported crime is decreasing, according to a recent study at Auckland University Law School. It suggests there were just over 100 offences for every 1,000 people in the 2006/2007 year, compared with almost 130 per 1,000 in the 1996/1997 year.
Researcher and Associate Professor of Law at Auckland University, Julia Tolmie, says the results contradict popular perceptions about crime. She says a lot of published reports on crime focus on trends from one year to the next, or concentrate on the incidence of one particular type of crime.
Ms Tolmie says although crime is not increasing, the number of people being locked up is on the rise. She says while roughly the same number of people are being caught, there are more prosecutions and longer convictions. She calls this 'punitive sentencing creep', and claims it is largely unrelated to the incidence or seriousness of criminal offending.
Ms Tolmie says sending more people to prison does not deter them from committing more crime. She says prison is both ineffective and prohibitively expensive. Her findings form part of a book to be launched at Auckland University Law School on Friday, looking at what causes people to commit crime, and trends in criminal justice.
- Newstalk ZB
