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Current Affairs with John Campbell.
Stories:
“Where does crime come from and how do we stop it? We have assembled a panel of individuals who, one way or another, have spent a significant amount of their professional lives addressing these issues. And the latest crime stats suggest there is much to address, reported violent crime over the past two years has rose by 5,000 crimes or 10% between June 2004 and June 2006. Areas where the biggest increases were reported were Northland, although on a relatively small base and Counties Manukau, where it rose from just over 6,000 violent crimes to almost 7,500 an increase of 20%. All this takes place amidst a major shift in how we punish crime. Driven by a Labour government, we now have more people in prison than at any other time in our history and we now have the second highest imprisonment rate in the western world. So what else can we do? How do we stop such crime?
To discuss this live in studio is Theodore Dalrymple; he is a retired prison doctor and psychiatrist who spent decades working in a very poor part of Birmingham. He also worked as a doctor in Tanzania and Zimbabwe and those experiences helped shape his views. He is a prolific writer on the subjects of politics, education and medicine and his work has appeared in many publications, including Britain's Spectator magazine.
And Peter Williams QC, Peter is one of New Zealand's longest serving barristers and was the first president of the Criminal Bar Association. He is currently the president of the New Zealand Howard League for Penal Reform, a non-governmental voluntary organisation which lists as one of its aims, the promotion of better ways of addressing crime and punishment in New Zealand.
Plus Ron Mark, New Zealand First MP and the party's law and order spokesperson. Prior to becoming a politician he spent most of his career in the army, which he joined when he was 16 and rose to the rank of Major. He is now the MP behind the Private Members Bill to lower the age of criminal responsibility from 14 to 12.
And Dr Annabel Taylor; she is a lecturer at the School of Social Work and Human Services at the University of Canterbury. Dr Annabel is the Chairperson for Ka Wahine, a Housing Trust for released female inmates and is also heavily involved in social work as the deputy director of the Te Awatea Violence Research Centre. She is also a board member for Family Help Trust in Christchurch.
So where does crime come from and why do people commit it? To watch part one of our Crime and Punishment
In part two we look at punishment and sentencing. Less than a decade ago, criminals would have received much shorter sentences; murderers frequently received as little as 10 years. We ask Peter Doig, the father of Marcus Doig, if he believes the new longer sentences imposed on the trio that killed his son are harsh enough." TV3; tv3.co.nz; 20/06/2007