Our 2011 election manifesto - Labour Party

CREATING A SAFER AND FAIRER SOCIETY
Police and Corrections Policy
Our vision
For decades now, the law and order debate in New Zealand has been driven by “getting
tough on crime”. Although general crime rates have trended downward since the 1990s, the
public policy response has been to introduce more punitive sentences, to build more jails,
and to spend more money on dealing with crime than ever before. This means that
something in the prescription is clearly not working.
Doing things differently doesn‟t mean being soft on crime, it means being smarter in dealing
effectively with it.
Few disagree that the best way to make all our communities safer is to prevent crime
happening in the first place. But it has been more difficult for governments to develop longterm
programmes that prioritise prevention in the law and order agenda, and that endure
across changes of government.
Labour will step up to the plate and focus on real and enduring ways to make society safer –
by preventing crime happening in the first place, and by investing in early change to the
behaviour of offenders.
This policy works hand in hand with our Social Development policy, which puts children at
the centre and invests in the early years to reduce the likelihood that the next generation will
end up in our criminal justice system.
Police
Sweating the small stuff
The most serious crime captures the headlines, and causes the most harm to individual
victims. But it is crime at the lower end of the criminal scale that actually affects the vast
majority of the population.
In 2010/2011 there were 59,361 recorded instances of unlawful entry with
intent/burglary/breaking and entering, with only a 15.2% resolution rate achieved. There
were 136,524 recorded theft and related offences, with only a 23.8% resolution rate.
These crimes are often considered „minor‟, but their low resolution rates leave the public
feeling unsafe. A highly damaging consequence of appearing to fail to treat these crimes
seriously is the perception created that they can be committed with little or no consequence.
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