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27
April 2008
Crime
in Perspective
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It
was just three week’s ago that we heard the sort of news
that sends a chill down the spine of every parent – a
fifteen year old schoolgirl reported missing. Tragically Marie
Davis was buried on Thursday. Her killer remains on the loose.
Last
weekend the Sensible Sentencing Trust held a conference for
the families of those who had lost loved ones to crime. Ida
Hawkins summed up the feelings of the hundreds present, “We
all share the same hurt and pain. I am only one of hundreds of
Victims that has lost a loved one to murder. It totally
destroyed our lives …MENTALLY and PHYSICALLY. A murder that
was SENSELESS”.
Ida
described the murder of her eldest
daughter Colleen Burrows in Napier in 1987. After going out
for takeaways, Colleen fell into the hands of two Mongrel Mob
members. “Two
thugs took her from the street. She refused to have sex with
them. They then drove over her repeatedly and kicked her to
death. They were both wearing steel capped boots. Her body was
so badly mutilated, that I couldn’t see her to say goodbye.
She was 16 years of age”.
Ida
described how the anguish she lived with on a daily basis
turned into despair in 2005 when she learned that one of
Colleen’s murderers, Sam Tehei, had received around $90,000
in compensation for alleged mistreatment in prison. “A story
had been published about Sam Tehei claiming COMPENSATION,
saying his Human Rights had been abused whilst in prison. How
DESPICABLE is that! I felt NAUSEATED…I was so SICK. …I
needed to speak out to tell someone; this is a sick joke! What
about COLLEEN’S HUMAN RIGHTS? He had murdered her. Thereby,
depriving her of any RIGHTS at all. It’s so UNJUST!!!!!!
From there on, I vowed & declared I would endeavour to
FIGHT for my daughter’s RIGHTS and VICTIMS & their
families. That was my first huge step into my journey”.
Ida
and many other families in New Zealand have been helped
through their trauma by Garth McVicar and the dedicated team
at the Sensible Sentencing Trust. The goal of the Trust is not
only to support families who are the victims of murder and to
fight for their rights, but to lobby for reform of the
criminal justice system in order to reduce violent crime in
New Zealand.
Many
of us can still remember when New Zealand was virtually crime
free. We could count the number of murders a year on the
fingers of one hand. Nowadays, a murder a week is not unusual.
According
to the latest Police statistics violent crime has increased by
43.6 percent since Labour has been in office, rising from
39,688 recorded cases in 1999 to 56,983 last year. The total
number of recorded crimes for 2007 now stands at 426,380 –
or 48 crimes an hour – slightly down on the 1999 rate of
438,074. (For details click
here >>> )
Being
such an isolated country, it is difficult to understand just
what these statistics really mean. How safe is it to live in
New Zealand these days?
To
answer that we must look beyond the shallow rhetoric of
politicians to ask how New Zealand’s crime rate compares
internationally. Fortunately that task has been made easier by
the acclaimed “Nation Master” website, which compares
countries using an array of measures, including crime. In the
year 2000 (when total recorded crime at 427,230 was similar to
the present), New Zealand had the second worst rate of crime
per head of population out of the 60 countries listed, with
105 crimes per 1,000 people. The
worst was Dominica with 113. The UK ranked sixth with 85
crimes per 1,000 people and the USA was eighth with 80 crimes
per 1,000 people. (For details click
here >>>)
This shameful record is consistent with the results of the
“International Crime Victim Survey”. This survey was
developed by the Dutch Government to provide a standardised
measure of crime amongst participating nations that is
independent of police statistics and can be reliably used as
an alternative. It is carried out every four years.
The 2004/05 survey covering 30 countries including New Zealand
was released last month. Some 2,000 householders in each
country were interviewed about their experience with common
types of crime - vehicle-related crimes, burglary and other
property crimes, and contact crimes – as well as their
attitudes to policing, their approach to crime prevention, and
the overall “fear of crime” in their community.
The
survey shows that, on average, almost 16 percent of the
populations of the 30 participating countries had been a
victim of crime in 2004. New Zealand ranked third overall with
a victimisation rate of around 22
percent, just behind Ireland,
and England & Wales.
New
Zealand also ranked the highest for theft from cars, the
second highest for burglary, the fifth highest for assaults
and threats, the tenth highest for robbery, and the eleventh
highest for theft of personal property and for sexual assaults
against women.
The
survey compared the prevalent fear of crime in each country by
asking questions about the likelihood of burglary and the
vulnerability to street crime. On average 29 percent of all
respondents deemed a burglary was likely or very likely to
occur within the next twelve months and around 25 percent
indicated that they felt unsafe or very unsafe walking the
streets after dark. The results for New Zealand were higher -
36 percent believed that a burglary was likely in the next
year and 30 percent felt unsafe on the streets at night.
The
feeling of insecurity was reflected in the number of New
Zealanders who had installed burglar alarms (38% in New
Zealand compared to 16% for all countries) and special door
locks (59% in New Zealand against 45%). This shows a marked
tendency of New Zealanders to take a proactive approach to
self-protection. (For more details on the survey click
here >>>)
This week’s NZCPR Guest Commentator, law and order
researcher Dr Lech Beltowski, highlights the vital role that
self-protection plays in the maintenance of law and order in
New Zealand. In his opinion piece “Wanted
- A Law and Order System that works for us”, Lech explains
how current policing methods empower criminals at the expense
of law-abiding citizens, straying from the ‘community
policing’ concept developed by the founder of modern
policing Sir Robert Peel. This model, which encourages
law-abiding citizens to defend themselves and their property,
has been turned on its head with the police all too often
behaving as though it is the general public who need
controlling, not the criminals:
“What needs to be understood as
widely as possible is that law-abiding members of the public
actually play an important role in maintaining law and order.
Self-defense and intervention whenever they see criminal
activity occurring is totally in the public interest and such
intervention is something that should be lauded and
encouraged, not downplayed or punished.
“If
New Zealand wishes to reduce its very high violent crime rate
and become once again the safe society it once was, a good
first step would be to remove the threat of criminal charges
being laid by police against law-abiding citizens whose only
"crime" was to protect themselves, their families or
their property or who had intervened in the public good when
police were absent.
“Recognising
the contribution to law and order that law-abiding individuals
make would also go a long way towards re-aligning police
objectives with the real needs of the public and would at long
last spell out to police hierarchy that, in a democracy the
proper role of the police is to be a servant to the public,
not a master”. (To read the article click
here >>>)
Keeping
people safe and protecting us from
crime
is a core role of government. Yet police figures and the
international comparisons show that the Government is failing
in this responsibility. New Zealand is becoming increasingly
violent and dangerous. Turning this situation around must be a
key priority of any new government.
The
poll this week asks about your perception of crime.
Do you believe that crime in New Zealand has increased,
decreased, or stayed about the same over the last five years?
Go
to Poll >>>
If you
would like to comment on this issue please click
>>>
Readers
interested in this issue may like to read other NZCPR articles
about Crime and Justice – click
here >>>
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