Criminal Justice

Prison Fellowship is seeking support from Christians in an approach to the Minister of Corrections to try and save the faith-based unit at Rimutaka Prison, which is under threat of closure.

Prison Fellowship NZ has operated the national faith-based unit in partnership with the Department of Corrections, since October 2003. It is the only official faith-based unit in Australasian prisons and is widely respected internationally. The unit's operations were extended first by Operation Jericho, a single mentor-based aftercare programme, then the whole throughcare scheme, the only scheme of its kind in a New Zealand prison. This scheme was extended by PFNZ, at considerable ongoing cost, with a more intensive community-led care scheme, Target Communities, based on an internationally proven model. In a press release, PFNZ says that over the years it asked Corrections to evaluate the scheme for continual improvement. After almost eight years an internal evaluation was carried out in 2010. This demonstrated that the entire scheme was running effectively as a Christian faith-centred therapeutic community with a reintegration focus, except that Correction's Recidivism Quotient statistics did not show a demonstrable improvement in reducing recidivism. Statistical experts have advised PFNZ that this was probably because of the very small number of programme ‘completers' analysed in this comparator. According to Corrections, this comparator has never been used before to measure...

The Henwood Trust, New Zealand's leading sponsor of youth justice research, has recently published the latest version of a research paper by Gabrielle Maxwell and Peter Marsh called Effective Programmes, for youth at risk of continued and serious offending. The purpose of the paper is to generate the right criteria for assessing existing programmes for serious young offenders, which can also be used by providers looking for guidance when starting new programmes. The report is endorsed by Chief Youth Court Judge Andrew Becroft, and NZ Christian Network National Director Glyn Carpenter says with that endorsement, the rest of us should take notice. The research paper is subtitled ‘Something to do, someone to love, something to hope for' - a description of the three conditions for a happy life prescribed by EP Culverwell in 1914. This theme is stated to be the objective that all programmes for youth at risk should achieve, and is echoed by Judge Carolyn Henwood, in her forward to the paper. She reminds readers of the principles of the Children, Young Persons and Their Families Act 1989, which says that young people must be kept safe, have their needs understood and met, and be given opportunities to develop in socially acceptable ways. She adds that this approach to rehabilitation must also be accompanied by accountability, and that, although hard to do, the work of effective youth justice is not impossible. She says that worthwhile programmes for young offenders must be delivered...

Kim Workman, from Rethinking Crime and Punishment, recently made a submission to the Ministry of Justice on the Focus on Victims Rights Review. This submission heavily emphasises the need for restorative justice, in the face of possible government funding cutbacks. Research evidence is overwhelming regarding the benefits to victims and society of the restorative justice approach. Click on the attachment below to read the full submission.

"The Case for Restorative Practise - A Change is Gonna Come" was the title of a speech delivered by the Director of Rethinking Crime and Punishment, Kim Workman, at the Taranaki Restorative Justice Seminar on 24 March 2010. Glyn Carpenter, a member of the RCAP working group, recommends that Christian leaders, pastors, ministers, and lay leaders read the attached speech to be informed on one of the key contributors to this discussion.

"Sensible Sentencing Trust's current reform agenda is not helping victims recover from the trauma of losing family members to crime," says Kim Workman, Director of Rethinking Crime and Punishment in his latest newsletter. "There is almost nothing in it which will advance the place of the victim in the criminal justice system. Instead, it is vindictive, punitive, and aimed at making things tougher on offenders. "Calls for justice from recent victims may in fact be calls for vengeance or punishment. Such feelings are indeed legitimate, but giving them immediate satisfaction will not further the healing process. Read more... "When politicians reinforce that agenda by attending victims' rallies, promising to get tough on criminals, they contribute to victim ill-health. Instead, they should encourage and support victims to move beyond those original responses, to deal with the immediate impacts of violence and help them move to a place of emotional safety. "Recently traumatised victims are being used as chattels by Sensible Sentencing, to further a retributive reform agenda. There is no benefit in it for victims. "Third parties who assist victims of crime need to allow those they help to move beyond their initial responses if the victims are to find healing. Sometimes victims or their supporters can find it hard to let go of the status of victim, which may carry a sense of entitlement to criticise, retaliate or hold a moral advantage over their offender," said Mr Workman. He...

On 3 April 2009, the Minister of Justice, Hon Simon Power, and the Minister of Maori Affairs, Hon Dr Pita Sharples, co-hosted a meeting at Parliament on the underlying drivers of criminal offending in New Zealand. The Drivers of Crime Ministerial Meeting was convened as a starting point for a new approach to dealing with offending and victimisation in New Zealand. It was attended by more than 100 invited participants from a range of organisations and backgrounds, and with a common interest and expertise in dealing with and preventing crime and victimisation. A document of the proceedings from the meeting was produced as a reflection of the discussions held on the day. Participants who attended the meeting, as well as other individuals or organisations with an interest in the subject, were invited to meet with their networks, organisations, iwi and communities to:
• Discuss the underlying drivers of crime identified in the proceedings;
• Provide suggested approaches to addressing them; and
• Raise any additional points relating to the drivers of crime not discussed at the meeting.
• This document summarises the submissions received and will be used to inform the direction of work on addressing the drivers of crime. Among the common themes identified were: Parenting and family
Underlying issues stemming from family dysfunction were a significant part of the discussion in all groups at the ministerial meeting. Poor parenting and child maltreatment...

In April this year, over 100 people met to identify the key issues at a Drivers of Crime ministerial meeting. Initiated by Rethinking Crime and Punishment (RCAP) - one of the networks with which visionnetwork is involved - the gathering included people working at the frontline in crime and offending prevention, people working with victims of crime, academics, members of the judiciary, and members of parliament. RCAP newsletters make a significant contribution to the crime-and-punishment debate. visionnetwork National Director Glyn Carpenter said there is good evidence to suggest that many populist views in the debate may not be right. "Slogans such as ‘get tough on crime' are hugely simplistic and suppress important discussion and reflection," he said. Read more... <link to come> In its latest newsletter, RCAP reports that over the next six months the group will further explore the identified issues, asking such questions as: What is currently happening? What works? What looks promising? What represents value for money? What more needs to happen - where should government put its resources? The RCAP newsletters can be found at their website, http://www.rethinking.org.nz/

"The World Day Against the Death Penalty, should give Christians nationwide the opportunity to reflect on their personal position on the death penalty." That is the view of Kim Workman, former National Director of Prison Fellowship and now Kim Workman, spokesman for Rethinking Crime and Punishment, and a member of visionnetwork's Advisory Groupn 2002, Prison Fellowship New Zealand, with the assistance of Dr Chris Marshall, now a New Testament theologian at Victoria University, developed a position which was instrumental in the Prison Fellowship International Council unanimously opposing the death penalty. We have decided to re-state our view, to further promote discussion on the issue. Throughout human history the ultimate punishment for criminal offending has been death, and it has usually been afforded religious sanction. In penal codes, the death penalty is unique in being able to claim direct biblical or divine sanction. Over the past fifty years, however, more and more countries have been abolishing the death penalty, although it still remains on the law books of around half the countries of the world. Not infrequently, capital punishment is part of a larger apparatus of state-sponsored oppression. According to Amnesty International, "The negative correlation between execution policy and governmental respect for human rights throughout the world can be demonstrated over and over again." Many Christians do not know how to respond to this situation. They feel caught...