Do we need tougher punishments to control rising crime and aggravated robberies?
The question whether we need tougher punishments to control rising crime and aggravated robberies has divided New Zealander's opinion like no other issue of public policy in recent times, and more so opinions of politicians than ordinary New Zealanders.
Every society and nations have to face such a question repeatedly, the answer to which depends on that society's collective emotional experiences and its respective position in the ladder of social evolution. Different societies have different levels of appetite for punishments to the perpetrators of crime.
However, when collective emotions are running amok northward then usually societies have little hesitation in making choices for harsher penalties and tougher punishments.
In the recent past, New Zealand had one such experience of emotional upheaval, which according to many had changed New Zealand's political landscape.
Way back in 1997 71-year-old Nan Withers was badly assaulted by Harry Goulding Houkamau, 36, a recidivist violent offender out on parole, which had left her requiring 75 stitches on head and face and leaving her dead in less than five years from then.
The brutality had mobilised her son, Norm Withers, into becoming a passionate justice campaigner launching a petition demanding tougher penalties for violent crimes, which was promptly signed by over 350,000 Kiwis, triggering the famous law and order referendum in 1999 supported by more than 92 per cent of the total 1.8 million voters.
Since then, many in our political establishment, such as Green Party MP David Clendon had argued intermittently that New Zealand has stuck in an era of "penal populism", whereby political parties compete to be toughest on crime.
Recently, the Kiwi-Indian community had its own Nan Withers moment, when on March 11, a group of seven young adults had launched a brutal attack on the Crown Superette owner-couple - Jeetesh and Preeti Arora - in Mt. Roskill, Auckland, leaving them badly hurt and traumatised.
The husband, Jeetesh Arora, had to undergo several surgeries in the North Shore hospital while wife Preeti Arora was badly hurt and bruised leaving them too traumatised to re-open their business immediately.
Such was the level of shock and anger within the Kiwi-Indian community that within a few days of this brutal unprovoked assault, many community members gathered in a public meeting and vowed to create a dedicated community action group seeking decisive government action.
In the next few days, Crime Prevention Group sprung up in Auckland with the participation of other ethnic communities, primarily the Chinese community, which apparently has similar experiences to share about the increasing audacity of assaults and attacks, especially on small business owners within these ethnic communities.
Sunny Kaushal was the lead organiser of this action group and has been on the forefront of putting forward a demand of bringing tougher laws and penalties on perpetrators of violent assaults, which had also launched a public petition with a stated goal of getting 10,000 signatures nationwide in support of this demand for tougher penalties.
Sadly, the Crown Superette incident was not a standalone incident of aggravated robbery that spurred up fear and emotions within the community. There were many more such as the Puhnui Superette in Papatoetoe, Mangere Dairy where a firearm was shown in the presence of other customers, Kingsford Supermarket in Mangere East where a group of four masked men armed with machetes had attacked an unaware staff member.
The list is long.
In fact, latest figures from police as reported by TVNZ reveal that the number of aggravated robberies on dairies and convenience stores has almost doubled in the space of a year.
There were 418 aggravated robberies in South Auckland alone in the past year.
Meanwhile, Crown Superette business from where it all started has gone into solvency with owners Jeetesh and Priti Arora failing to recoup their financial cost and psychological burden that such aggravated robberies pose on small businesses, suggesting that aggravated robberies and assaults have wider implications on people and families.
Against this backdrop, there seems to be some expectation within the community and wider ethnic communities, not completely unjustified, that something needs to be done urgently to control this situation.
Demanding tougher penalties is one such expectation.
New Zealanders have previously responded positively to similar strong popular emotional demands when following the referendum of 1999, the government of the day introduced several tough sentencing measures such as the Bail Act 2000, Sentencing Act 2002, and the Parole Act 2002.
The government of the day was a Labour government, and Phil Goff was the Justice Minister.
It remains to be seen if there is enough pent up emotional demand before the coming general elections 2017 for stronger penalties against offenders of aggravated robberies and assault.
The Indian Weekender is setting up a debate in its forthcoming election special issue - Verdict 2017 - due on Friday, July 21, about the need for stronger penalties and tougher punishments, where political parties and their leaders are invited to put forward their opinion and their respective stand on this important issue for the community.
The question whether we need tougher punishments to control rising crime and aggravated robberies has divided New Zealander's opinion like no other issue of public policy in recent times, and more so opinions of politicians than ordinary New Zealanders.
Every society and nations have to face such a...
The question whether we need tougher punishments to control rising crime and aggravated robberies has divided New Zealander's opinion like no other issue of public policy in recent times, and more so opinions of politicians than ordinary New Zealanders.
Every society and nations have to face such a question repeatedly, the answer to which depends on that society's collective emotional experiences and its respective position in the ladder of social evolution. Different societies have different levels of appetite for punishments to the perpetrators of crime.
However, when collective emotions are running amok northward then usually societies have little hesitation in making choices for harsher penalties and tougher punishments.
In the recent past, New Zealand had one such experience of emotional upheaval, which according to many had changed New Zealand's political landscape.
Way back in 1997 71-year-old Nan Withers was badly assaulted by Harry Goulding Houkamau, 36, a recidivist violent offender out on parole, which had left her requiring 75 stitches on head and face and leaving her dead in less than five years from then.
The brutality had mobilised her son, Norm Withers, into becoming a passionate justice campaigner launching a petition demanding tougher penalties for violent crimes, which was promptly signed by over 350,000 Kiwis, triggering the famous law and order referendum in 1999 supported by more than 92 per cent of the total 1.8 million voters.
Since then, many in our political establishment, such as Green Party MP David Clendon had argued intermittently that New Zealand has stuck in an era of "penal populism", whereby political parties compete to be toughest on crime.
Recently, the Kiwi-Indian community had its own Nan Withers moment, when on March 11, a group of seven young adults had launched a brutal attack on the Crown Superette owner-couple - Jeetesh and Preeti Arora - in Mt. Roskill, Auckland, leaving them badly hurt and traumatised.
The husband, Jeetesh Arora, had to undergo several surgeries in the North Shore hospital while wife Preeti Arora was badly hurt and bruised leaving them too traumatised to re-open their business immediately.
Such was the level of shock and anger within the Kiwi-Indian community that within a few days of this brutal unprovoked assault, many community members gathered in a public meeting and vowed to create a dedicated community action group seeking decisive government action.
In the next few days, Crime Prevention Group sprung up in Auckland with the participation of other ethnic communities, primarily the Chinese community, which apparently has similar experiences to share about the increasing audacity of assaults and attacks, especially on small business owners within these ethnic communities.
Sunny Kaushal was the lead organiser of this action group and has been on the forefront of putting forward a demand of bringing tougher laws and penalties on perpetrators of violent assaults, which had also launched a public petition with a stated goal of getting 10,000 signatures nationwide in support of this demand for tougher penalties.
Sadly, the Crown Superette incident was not a standalone incident of aggravated robbery that spurred up fear and emotions within the community. There were many more such as the Puhnui Superette in Papatoetoe, Mangere Dairy where a firearm was shown in the presence of other customers, Kingsford Supermarket in Mangere East where a group of four masked men armed with machetes had attacked an unaware staff member.
The list is long.
In fact, latest figures from police as reported by TVNZ reveal that the number of aggravated robberies on dairies and convenience stores has almost doubled in the space of a year.
There were 418 aggravated robberies in South Auckland alone in the past year.
Meanwhile, Crown Superette business from where it all started has gone into solvency with owners Jeetesh and Priti Arora failing to recoup their financial cost and psychological burden that such aggravated robberies pose on small businesses, suggesting that aggravated robberies and assaults have wider implications on people and families.
Against this backdrop, there seems to be some expectation within the community and wider ethnic communities, not completely unjustified, that something needs to be done urgently to control this situation.
Demanding tougher penalties is one such expectation.
New Zealanders have previously responded positively to similar strong popular emotional demands when following the referendum of 1999, the government of the day introduced several tough sentencing measures such as the Bail Act 2000, Sentencing Act 2002, and the Parole Act 2002.
The government of the day was a Labour government, and Phil Goff was the Justice Minister.
It remains to be seen if there is enough pent up emotional demand before the coming general elections 2017 for stronger penalties against offenders of aggravated robberies and assault.
The Indian Weekender is setting up a debate in its forthcoming election special issue - Verdict 2017 - due on Friday, July 21, about the need for stronger penalties and tougher punishments, where political parties and their leaders are invited to put forward their opinion and their respective stand on this important issue for the community.
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