2 Dec 2017

Reduce crime, not prison population, says Trust

4:40 pm on 2 December 2017

The founder of the Sensible Sentencing Trust says he is shocked the Justice Minister wants to reduce the prison population by up to a third over 15 years.

Andrew Little made the comments on TV3's The Nation this morning.

He said it would be done by ensuring offenders with mental health problems got more help and judges were consistent in sentencing.

He said the government would also look into how bail was being administered and establish a sentencing council.

Founder of the Sensible Sentencing Trust Garth McVicar said the government needed to focus on reducing crime, not the prison population.

Mr McVicar said the prison population could not be reduced without putting the public's safety at risk.

"If you're going to let these recidivist offenders out and they're all recidivist offenders, as I said 46 convictions by the time they go to jail the average inmate, then he is a ticking time bomb, he will go on to harm. Andrew Little is either going to have to put his hand up and take responsibility or he's going to have to introduce some sort of scheme to hold judges accountable."

Garth McVicar said homicide rates and crimes against children had significantly reduced because the right people were behind bars.

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