Nat’s respond to Kiwi Indian community’s demand for “tougher punishment”
The National Party has become the first political party in the run up to this election to respond to the Kiwi-Indian community’s long standing demand of tougher punishments against violent youth offenders.
The Indian Weekender election special issue – Verdict 2017 on July 21, had raised a direct question with all major political parties in the fray in this election – “Do we need tougher punishments to control rising crime and aggravated robberies?”
On April 3, earlier this year, The Indian Weekender had carried a story on the coverage of the meeting on law and order between community representatives and Associate Minister for Justice with the headline – ‘Take back control of our town centres in South Auckland, community urges Police.’
The story had voiced concerns of members of the community and received a cautious nod from many Police officers attending the meeting that lately town centres, particularly from South Auckland, had been taken over by gangs of young offenders (read the story here https://www.indianweekender.co.nz/pages/articledetails/7/7826/new-zealand/take-back-control-of-our-town-centres-in-south-auckland-community-urges-to-the-police)
In response to that as it were, the National Party announced an offending youth policy this morning at Mt Roskill, Auckland, promising tougher punishments for hardened youth offenders, which includes military style boot camp, holding parents to account and sending serious re-offenders over 14 to the adult court system.
The Indian Weekender has long been vocal and passionate about raising issues around aggravated robberies, crime, and general law and order, affecting small business owners and their families within the Kiwi-Indian community.
The question of ‘tougher punishments for violent youth offenders’ that The Indian Weekender believes is a paramount concern for the community and had arisen following a spate of violent attacks and assaults on dairy owners and small business owners since the beginning of this year.
It seems that the National Party is the first political party to have responded proactively to the demands raised by many in ethnic communities, including The Indian Weekender.
However, it will be interesting to see if the parties in opposition, especially the Jacinda Ardern led revamped Labour Party will also come up with a new policy of its own on youth offending – an issue that has been hurting the Kiwi-Indian community hard lately. Or will it be the business as usual approach?
To be fair, even the National Party took a long time in waking up from their slumber and accepting that youth offending is an important issue that requires immediate action and the current youth justice system was not dis-incentivising most violent and hardened young offenders in New Zealand.
Prime Minister Bill English led a battery of Ministers including Deputy Prime Minister and Police Minister Paula Bennett, Minister for Justice Amy Adams, Associate Minister for Justice Mark Mitchell, to suggest that the policy had been prepared by taking various factors into consideration including efficacy of youth justice system in bringing a positive change in the lives of these violent offenders.
“We want New Zealanders to be safe in their homes, at work, and on the streets, so we will introduce a $60 million package over four years that will deal with the most violent and recidivist young offenders more seriously, to reduce reoffending,” Justice Minister Amy Adams said, while announcing the policy.
The dairy owners and the small business owners in the Kiwi-Indian community all around the country, but in particularly in Auckland, who have borne the brunt of violence at the hands of the perpetrators of aggravated robberies and violent crimes, have long been demanding tougher deterrent punishment.
Some 60-70 of the total 150 violent offenders identified by the law enforcement agencies in line to receive these newly introduced tougher punishments were in Auckland was an endorsement of the strong voice being raised by The Indian Weekender about the need for tougher punishments.
“Our youth justice system works well for the vast majority of young offenders, and our relentless focus on reducing crime has seen the youth crime rate drop 31 per cent. However there remains a small group of around 150 young people who continue to commit large numbers of serious offences,” National’s Justice spokesperson Amy Adams said.
Key Features of the Policy
- Create a new category - Young Serious Offenders (YSO)
- Give police and judges more powers to detain YSOs
- Setting up a Military style boot camp - defence-led Junior Training Academy based at the Waiouru Training Camp.
- Those who fail to complete their time at the academy will serve a commensurate adult sentence of imprisonment instead (in the adult court system).
- Allowing Police to issue instant infringement notices to parents of children under 14 walking the streets without supervision between 12am and 5am.
The National Party has become the first political party in the run up to this election to respond to the Kiwi-Indian community’s long standing demand of tougher punishments against violent youth offenders.
The Indian Weekender election special issue – Verdict 2017 on July 21, had raised a direct...
The National Party has become the first political party in the run up to this election to respond to the Kiwi-Indian community’s long standing demand of tougher punishments against violent youth offenders.
The Indian Weekender election special issue – Verdict 2017 on July 21, had raised a direct question with all major political parties in the fray in this election – “Do we need tougher punishments to control rising crime and aggravated robberies?”
On April 3, earlier this year, The Indian Weekender had carried a story on the coverage of the meeting on law and order between community representatives and Associate Minister for Justice with the headline – ‘Take back control of our town centres in South Auckland, community urges Police.’
The story had voiced concerns of members of the community and received a cautious nod from many Police officers attending the meeting that lately town centres, particularly from South Auckland, had been taken over by gangs of young offenders (read the story here https://www.indianweekender.co.nz/pages/articledetails/7/7826/new-zealand/take-back-control-of-our-town-centres-in-south-auckland-community-urges-to-the-police)
In response to that as it were, the National Party announced an offending youth policy this morning at Mt Roskill, Auckland, promising tougher punishments for hardened youth offenders, which includes military style boot camp, holding parents to account and sending serious re-offenders over 14 to the adult court system.
The Indian Weekender has long been vocal and passionate about raising issues around aggravated robberies, crime, and general law and order, affecting small business owners and their families within the Kiwi-Indian community.
The question of ‘tougher punishments for violent youth offenders’ that The Indian Weekender believes is a paramount concern for the community and had arisen following a spate of violent attacks and assaults on dairy owners and small business owners since the beginning of this year.
It seems that the National Party is the first political party to have responded proactively to the demands raised by many in ethnic communities, including The Indian Weekender.
However, it will be interesting to see if the parties in opposition, especially the Jacinda Ardern led revamped Labour Party will also come up with a new policy of its own on youth offending – an issue that has been hurting the Kiwi-Indian community hard lately. Or will it be the business as usual approach?
To be fair, even the National Party took a long time in waking up from their slumber and accepting that youth offending is an important issue that requires immediate action and the current youth justice system was not dis-incentivising most violent and hardened young offenders in New Zealand.
Prime Minister Bill English led a battery of Ministers including Deputy Prime Minister and Police Minister Paula Bennett, Minister for Justice Amy Adams, Associate Minister for Justice Mark Mitchell, to suggest that the policy had been prepared by taking various factors into consideration including efficacy of youth justice system in bringing a positive change in the lives of these violent offenders.
“We want New Zealanders to be safe in their homes, at work, and on the streets, so we will introduce a $60 million package over four years that will deal with the most violent and recidivist young offenders more seriously, to reduce reoffending,” Justice Minister Amy Adams said, while announcing the policy.
The dairy owners and the small business owners in the Kiwi-Indian community all around the country, but in particularly in Auckland, who have borne the brunt of violence at the hands of the perpetrators of aggravated robberies and violent crimes, have long been demanding tougher deterrent punishment.
Some 60-70 of the total 150 violent offenders identified by the law enforcement agencies in line to receive these newly introduced tougher punishments were in Auckland was an endorsement of the strong voice being raised by The Indian Weekender about the need for tougher punishments.
“Our youth justice system works well for the vast majority of young offenders, and our relentless focus on reducing crime has seen the youth crime rate drop 31 per cent. However there remains a small group of around 150 young people who continue to commit large numbers of serious offences,” National’s Justice spokesperson Amy Adams said.
Key Features of the Policy
- Create a new category - Young Serious Offenders (YSO)
- Give police and judges more powers to detain YSOs
- Setting up a Military style boot camp - defence-led Junior Training Academy based at the Waiouru Training Camp.
- Those who fail to complete their time at the academy will serve a commensurate adult sentence of imprisonment instead (in the adult court system).
- Allowing Police to issue instant infringement notices to parents of children under 14 walking the streets without supervision between 12am and 5am.
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