Wednesday, December 23, 2009

CRIME: Make it Personal!

Since Labour's election victory in 1997 they have introduced over fifty new criminal justice bills in Parliament creating over 3,000 new criminal offences.

More offences and greater punitive measures have not reduced offending or given victims greater justice under Labour. The current state approach, which is a remote; mechanized process denies victims their voice and allows offenders to escape the impact of their crimes.

Contrast Labour's obsession with criminalizing behavour with the 60 years between 1925 to 1985 when only six new criminal justice acts were passed in Parliament and its easy to see making laws by itself cannot and does not change attitudes or behaviour.

We need a model which gives voice to victims and challenges offenders with the impact of what they have done to victims. Only then will crime become personal and the pain of offending really felt by all!