crime
Categories under crime
- domestic violence (14)
- police (249)
- prisons (103)
Why no punishment for Westpac?
Written By: - Date published: 8:26 am, October 13th, 2009 - 80 comments
You would have seen that Westpac was found to have undertaken the largest theft of tax money in New Zealand history. From 1998 to 2002, they hid $586 million in tax due to our government. Add about 6% interest a year and the total they owe us is $961 million. My problem is that the […]
The bizarre world of sensible sentencing
Written By: - Date published: 10:05 am, October 9th, 2009 - 20 comments
Stabbing a kid to death is OK because it’s: “expressing frustration over [tagging]” Taking away people’s access to the most effective ‘flu and cold treatment because it’s a minor source for an ingredient(less than a third of pseudoephedrine comes from pharmacies according to Key), for a drug the use of which is already in decline: “a […]
Six years jail for Field
Written By: - Date published: 2:20 pm, October 6th, 2009 - 119 comments
Taito Philip Field has been sentenced to six years jail for bribery and corruption. Field is a prime example of the ability of power to corrupt. He let down all those who put their trust in him – his community, his former party, and the voters. We are fortunate that in New Zealand corruption by […]
Crime leaps along with unemployment
Written By: - Date published: 1:35 pm, October 1st, 2009 - 29 comments
The Police statistics out today show the crime rate continues to follow the unemployment rate. With unemployment on the rise, so is crime. Recorded crimes per person leapt 2.8% in the June year, as unemployment climbed from 4% to 6%. It’s obviously not a coincidence. Crime is a symptom of a society in distress, the […]
Drinking Liberally – Auckland (again)
Written By: - Date published: 2:30 pm, September 18th, 2009 - 2 comments
In the second part of our double header for Drinking Liberally this month we’ve got director of Rethinking Crime & Punishment Kim Workman to come and talk about justice policy. When: 7pm TUESDAY 22 September – (not our normal Wednesday night) Where: Galatos – 17 Galatos Street, Newton (just off K road) – free entry […]
Firestarter
Written By: - Date published: 9:01 am, September 10th, 2009 - 51 comments
r0b’s post on John Key’s ‘uprising’ comment (which was written last night) seems grimly ironic in light of this morning’s news. Someone has thrown some kind of incendiary device, like a molotov cocktail, through a window of Key’s electorate office. Obviously, such actions are to be condemned and it’s good to hear the damage is limited. […]
Collins’ smear backfires
Written By: - Date published: 11:30 am, August 27th, 2009 - 10 comments
Excellent piece by Patrick Gower in the Herald today on Judith Collins’ attempt to smear Corrections Association president Beven Hanlon. Collins has leaked part of an OIA (which she’s so far refused to release to Labour) which she says shows “union bosses” are “living a jet-set lifestyle” on the taxpayer after they received $127,000 in […]
More National sleeze
Written By: - Date published: 8:58 am, August 19th, 2009 - 62 comments
There’s been an attempt to force Peter Goodfellow, the brand new President of the National Party, to step down. The move came from the party’s board, worried that negative news around Goodfellow would damage the party if he hangs around. However, it looks like John Key has decided to back Goodfellow and that’s put the […]
A really crappy day
Written By: - Date published: 5:00 am, August 18th, 2009 - 37 comments
I hadn’t been to a protest in months. After everything I’ve been through, activist stuff tends to make me more than a little angry, which is part of the reason I’ve kept away from the front line for a while. Of course, being as assertive as I am, whenever there is trouble, it seems to […]
Still lying, Still spying
Written By: - Date published: 9:39 am, August 17th, 2009 - 25 comments
A media release yesterday from the Justice NOW collective! shows how both police and corporate spies are still taking a major interest in the activities of small peaceful protest groups. From the media release: The anti-terror police are still spying on legitimate political protest, and they are still lying to the public about what they […]
Govt backs tax cheats
Written By: - Date published: 1:35 pm, August 7th, 2009 - 35 comments
There is $4 billion in overdue tax owing. Every dollar of that means someone is pocketing cash that should be paying for schools, hospitals, superannuation etc, leaving those of us who pay our tax to pick up the tab. Tax cheats are criminals free-riding on the rest of us. Fortunately, it’s very cost effective to […]
Worth the Bill
Written By: - Date published: 7:05 am, August 5th, 2009 - 35 comments
What would you call it when you collect $900 a week by false pretenses? What would you call it when you tell the Electoral Commission and Ministerial Services that you live somewhere other than where you, your partner and your children actually live and work? And if you did those things while holding an office presumably subject […]
Taito guilty
Written By: - Date published: 6:44 pm, August 4th, 2009 - 109 comments
No surprises and a good outcome. That man betrayed everyone who ever supported and trusted him. He exemplifies how power can corrupt, something that evidently still afflicts government. Good on Clark for sacking him as a minister when the allegations first came out. Different standards back then I guess. Pity it took so long to […]
Wee gripes: doublethink
Written By: - Date published: 11:32 pm, July 30th, 2009 - 31 comments
If you read Kiwiblog or listen to talkback radio (basically the same thing – smart guy baiting reactionaries for his political ends) then you’ll have noticed the latest line on Bennett. It boils down to ‘remember how Labour did similar things to Bennett? Like Dalziel and that Sri Lankan girl. They were bad and evil […]
Bully State
Written By: - Date published: 3:23 pm, July 29th, 2009 - 42 comments
NZPA reports: An MP from government confidence and supply party ACT today told prison officers who spoke out against private prisons that they had hurt their future job prospects. David Garrett’s remark came hot on the heals of accusations yesterday that the Government attempted to intimidate and silence people. Those claims were sparked by Social […]
Nats grandstanding on legal reform
Written By: - Date published: 3:17 pm, July 24th, 2009 - 21 comments
Today we saw Justice Minister Simon Power get a front-page story for proposing a ‘reform‘ of the justice system that is actually just existing law (one wonders whether there’ll be days of recrimination coverage in Granny arising from that). In a few months, we’ll see National table a Bill to remove provocation as a partial […]
Justice, provocation, and the media
Written By: - Date published: 9:30 am, July 23rd, 2009 - 38 comments
Provocation is a partial defence to a charge of murder. It reduces murder to manslaughter if the jury accepts that actions of the victim would have caused a ‘reasonable person’ to lose self-control. The problem is that it is clearly being abused in some circumstances, like the Weatherston trial, to drag the victim’s name through the […]
Says it all really
Written By: - Date published: 3:21 pm, July 22nd, 2009 - 37 comments
You pricks decided what you were going to do and you’re not listening to me or anybody else. . . You people are not even interested in the people who are going to be living within the environment of a privatised prison. I actually hold you in f. . .king contempt From the select committee […]
A National disgrace
Written By: - Date published: 9:25 am, July 15th, 2009 - 13 comments
Judith “Crusher” Collins, postergirl for uncompassionate conservatives, proudly announces in her latest press release: “Prison numbers set to be highest ever”. Odd thing to be proud of when what it really shows is a justice system that’s failing. Our rate of incarceration – the second highest in the western developed world – should be a national […]
Political violence
Written By: - Date published: 3:30 pm, July 10th, 2009 - 15 comments
A Nelson man attempted to buy a gun to shoot Nick Smith. Details are scant. What could have been a nasty situation looks like is has been well-handled by the Police and DPS. It must be one of the gnawing worries of being an MP. You and your family are exposed to people who blame […]
Elucidate
Written By: - Date published: 10:15 am, July 3rd, 2009 - 28 comments
The woman has dropped her criminal complaint over Worth. Says she is satisfied now the scumbag has lost his career. Police are expected to drop the investigation. Now, can we (pretty please) know why a minister in our government lost his job? Can Key, just for a day, pretend to give a damn about transparency […]
‘Crusher’ running scared
Written By: - Date published: 1:00 pm, June 17th, 2009 - 13 comments
I’ve never been the biggest fan of Clayton Cosgrove, but he’s sure got ‘Crusher’ Collins running scared on her cuts to police vehicles. Yesterday in Parliament she refused to answer a question as the Minister of Corrections, telling Cosgrove he should take it up with the Minister of Police instead. The Minister of Police, of […]
Rhetoric & Reality 3: Crime
Written By: - Date published: 11:57 am, June 8th, 2009 - 19 comments
One of the most tedious and predictable right wing electoral tactics is to try and whip up a frenzy of fear about crime, especially violent crime. Mix in some “fear of youth” dog whistling for extra impact. Last election National were guilty as usual. The rhetoric: Key: I am extremely worried about the youth crime […]
Should Key have appointed Worth at all?
Written By: - Date published: 11:55 am, June 7th, 2009 - 104 comments
On Q+A this morning, Phil Goff was asked by Paul Holmes for more detail on why John Key wasn’t surprised when he took the sexual harassment complaint against Richard Worth to him. According to Goff, Key said that he had been aware of rumours of similar activity by Worth and that was one reason why […]
Wait, didn’t he say ‘women’?
Written By: - Date published: 10:51 am, June 6th, 2009 - 50 comments
There’s still a lot of confusion on the Right, in particular, about the sequence of events in the Worth saga, so I’ve tried to reconstruct it below (btw, thanks to John Armstrong for using his time machine and advising us “The [Dover] Samuels case had negligible impact on the new [Labour-led] government’s subsequent fortunes. The same […]
Question time
Written By: - Date published: 8:35 am, June 4th, 2009 - 44 comments
John Key’s making a real hash of this latest Worth scandal. There was the secretive way he went about things yesterday, which is just not acceptable from a Prime Minister in New Zealand. He wasted several opportunities to correct his mistake and give full details during the day. Yet the story is still coming out. […]
“Confusing and might be taken the wrong way by some”
Written By: - Date published: 9:34 pm, May 21st, 2009 - 50 comments
Duncan Garner had to do a balance piece against David Shearer because he has been at the forefront of covering the implosion of Melissa Lee’s campaign. Garner says someone “deep within” Lee’s campaign pointed him to an interview where Shearer says keeping employment high, particularly among migrant communities is important because when people don’t have […]
Simon Power needs to do some research
Written By: - Date published: 9:30 am, May 19th, 2009 - 15 comments
Simon Power talking on Q+A on Sunday showed a abysmal ignorance about how matters operate in his own portfolio. He blamed lawyers and juries for slowing the court system down. My experience in courts says that he is wrong – it is usually the police slowing things down. The lawyers agree here. He is correct […]
Veitch saga shows it really is no longer OK
Written By: - Date published: 10:18 pm, April 19th, 2009 - 22 comments
I know it’s not The Standard’s style to follow the media in the disgusting practice of turning real people’s lives into soap opera but there is a political aspect of the Veitch saga that is worth commenting on. 30 years ago, a story like this would have been swept under the carpet. Family violence was a private […]
Statistical crimes and the media
Written By: - Date published: 1:44 pm, April 11th, 2009 - 8 comments
You might have noticed that there was none of the traditional beat-up over crime when the crime statistics came out last week even though reported crime was up 1.2%. The reason is pretty obvious. The right is on power now, so National, the Sensible Sentencing Trust, and the Herald have no interest in trying to […]
Submit!
Written By: - Date published: 3:00 pm, April 2nd, 2009 - 1 comment
From No Right Turn. The Law and Order Committee has called for submissions on the Corrections (Contract Management of Prisons) Amendment Bill. Two copies, by Friday, 22 May 2009, to: Law and Order Committee Secretariat Parliament Buildings Wellington The bill would allow prisons to be privately managed. In the process, it would remove private prisons […]
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