Imprisonment ‘does not cut crime'

Press, 5 November 1984, Page 24

Imprisonment ‘does not cut crime'

PA Wellington Although statistics showed that imprisonment did-not cut the crime rate, it was difficult to convince the public, said the Minister of Justice, Mr Palmer, on Friday. “Those who are sentenced to imprisonment receive too short a sentence, many people believe,” Mr Palmer told the Probation Officers’ Conference in Tauranga.

“This belief is general among the New Zealand public, certainly among the people who write to me,” he said.

The facts, however, tended to refute the popular conception. The per capita imprison-

ment rate in New Zealand was one of the highest in the developed world, he said. , Al _ Statistics released by the Australian Institute of Criminology in April gave the following figures of people imprisoned per 100,000 of population: Australia 61.2; Canada 49.5; Japan 45.4; New Zealand 90.6.

“The New Zealand taxpayer pays on average 315,746 each year to keep each of these people in jail,” said Mr Palmer “When a family loses its breadwinner, we bear the additional cost of maintaining that both financially and cnriallv “From these figures it is

apparent that unless some; radical and unexplained difference exists between our society, and those I have < mentioned, imprisonment is ■ not a means of reducing the crime rate. ■ “It is difficult to convince ; some members of Parlia- > ment of this fact How much ; more difficult to convey it . to the public.” J Mr Palmer said that the politicians’ task was to try - to meet the legitimate de- , mands of the community for > Srotection while recognising lat some of the commun- < ity’s demands for dealing * with criminals will not be desirable or justifiable. “ “The rhetoric can become « so strong that it becomes an - enemy of analysis,” he said. M