Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Away for the Weekend

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  • Kumara Republic,

    I doubt anyone's going to come to their senses anytime soon, unless things go DEFCON 1.
    I.e., the BOPE Fan Club should be careful what they wish for, because they might actually get their wish...






    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report

  • Islander,

    Kia ora Kevin: one of those links came from you; the other drew up a "Not Found" flag.
    I am happy to discuss matters with you, and I would agree - because all the evidence is there- that "those over-represented in crime are intergenerational users of the welfare system." Unfortunately, a rather large percentage of them are us...*
    *And* the number of people incarcerated of Maori/other Polynesian descent is *3 times* our percentage of the population of ANZ...now, we are capable creative very intelligent & industrious folk (the history is there) - so, what's gone wrong?

    I'd suggest
    a)colonialism
    b)subsequent destruction of social & economic systems
    c)drug use - Maori did not have drugs (aside from the adrenalin of warfare or seaclash etc.) and alcohol was a known British measure of invasion. & control, and
    d) deracination- my tribe is just starting to work on the fact that it is not good for *any* young humans to be apart from the the natural world.

    Anyway, I still despise Garth Vicar, but am happy to talk- no reira, n/n Islander

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report

  • KevinHicks,

    Well they got these riots because they were soft on crime and cared more for the criminals than the victims (the USA pioneered these attitudes, then realised they were wrong and left us copy cats to suffer). We can stop it here if we care more for the victim than the crim.

    If restorative justice was run properly it would be good for minor offences and fiorst time offenders but in NZ it is run by ex crims and their bureacratic and devout apologists so its cuppa time. For serious offenders, how do you "restore" a murdered person?

    http://newzealandcrimewatch.blogspot.com/2008/07/ah-political-allegory.html

    Auckland • Since Sep 2007 • 67 posts Report

  • KevinHicks,

    Sorry try this

    http://newzealandcrimewatch.blogspot.com/2009/01/we-are-world-leader-in-crime.html

    http://www.neighbourhoodsupport.org/articles/UnderstandingCrimeRateStatistics.pdf

    Both are from me but both referreence the original statistics (ingernational crime victimisation survey and Statitics NZ) so its all varifiable.

    Auckland • Since Sep 2007 • 67 posts Report

  • Islander,

    O dear...I dont think I'm going to have ANY kind of conversation with Kevin...
    *o, 'us' in my above post means "those of us of Polynesian descent."

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report

  • KevinHicks,

    White wellington liberal excuses are not causes. If they were causes all Maori would be in prison, but my children are not. The will not identify properly with Maori because of the bad press which is sad. The elite will not let us assign 75% European and 25% Maori if a quarter Maori wants to identify as Maori because then they would loose their power base.

    Yes we need to talk and discuss - we have every ethnicity in neighbourhood support with many Maori, as does Garth in SST. But most of all we need to stop the excusing - when the excusing stops the killing will too.

    Auckland • Since Sep 2007 • 67 posts Report

  • Islander,

    Kevin: my whanau are *very* widespread. NONE of us are - or ever have been (except for a Mouat, long ago) in prison. (Now, the law cogniscenti should know about that one! It was one of the first tests of habeus corpus...)

    I simply do not understand your comments apropos 1/4 etc percentages - Kai Tahu accept ANYONE who is on our 1848 roll. We have no 'elite'. We have whakapapa-

    o, take a moment to understand that more Pakeha/nonMaori kids were killed than Maori kids last year?

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report

  • Mark Harris,

    Err NZ is in the top 15 countries in the world for crime victimisation.

    What does "crime victimisation" mean and what statistics do you have to back up your claim?

    We have a very high crime rate, thats why it gets reported.

    "Very high" in comparison to what, or who? (Please don't say 'no crime at all', that would be facetious)

    We also have a falling conviction count and a low rate of not guilty people serving either community or prison sentences.

    I would hope we have a low rate of not guilty people serving sentences. "Not guilty" means they didn't get convicted and so should not be serving any sort of sentence.

    If, however, you meant "guilty" people, then why are our prisons having capacity problems because we're imprisoning more people per capita than 158 other countries?

    He have always had almost none serving sentences for which they were actually innocent.

    Some evidence please?

    Although its a FACT that the violent crime rate is still going up exponentially despite what you may say and think I hope the media chase it all the way down to zero.

    I think you misunderstand the meaning of the word "exponentially" but, on the off-chance you have a point, again some evidence please.

    There is one simple way to stop the media reporting sensational crimes - thats for the crims (real-contumelious-little-turds) to stop B(*&(* commiting them, simple.

    Yes. This is true. It's also unlikely.

    Waikanae • Since Jul 2008 • 1343 posts Report

  • KevinHicks,

    The evidence for all my assertions is summarised in the links I gave with references to the originals statistics so you can check for yourself, dont beleive me.

    We have a very high crime rate both relative to many other countries and relative to our own past.

    We have a high imprisonment rate because we have a high serious crime rate relative to many other countries - this despite the fact that the rate of imprisonment per 100 crimes has falleen 6-fold since the 1950s.

    I don't misunderstand exponential and the graph is in my document, from oficial NZ government statistics so it will be an underestimate of the real violent crime rate.

    The evidence that the is a low rate of type one error (convicted when actually not guilty) and really bad bad error (convicted when innocent) is the low rate of ovdderturn of sentences despite it being a national passtime second only to rugby and pokey machines to try to make a name for yourself getting people off....well I suppose you could argue the ambitious people choose the wrong people to try to get off...:)

    Auckland • Since Sep 2007 • 67 posts Report

  • Islander,

    Kevin - your last paragraph was incoherent.Maybe go to bed for a while? Cheers,Islander

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report

  • Mark Harris,

    Fer sure, Islander.

    Waikanae • Since Jul 2008 • 1343 posts Report

  • Mark Harris,

    Kevin,
    Linking to more of your assertions is not evidence. Linking to a survey of householders is also not evidence.

    The graph does not show exponential growth or anything like it. As you note on that page, it shows less crime.

    Waikanae • Since Jul 2008 • 1343 posts Report

  • dc_red,

    Well they got these riots because they were soft on crime and cared more for the criminals than the victims

    Soft on crime committed by white cops against black victims, you mean?

    the number of European children killed by adults is significantly greater than those by polynesian.

    If that's not a case for restricting Swiss immigration to New Zealand I can't think of one!

    Oil Patch, Alberta • Since Nov 2006 • 706 posts Report

  • giovanni tiso,

    If it wasn't such a serious topic, I'd have to laugh long and hard at the phrase "crime victimisation". The language really is not safe in the hands of some people.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report

  • Russell Brown,

    Hi folks. Foo Camp was great, Emma Hart makes a dangerous werewolf, and the results of the International Crime Victims Survey are a little more complex than Kevin suggests.

    I had a look at the last survey:

    For the basket of the 10 common crimes New Zealand does indeed fare worse in a group of 30 countries than only Ireland and England and Wales. Our rating is principally hurt by theft from cars and burglary. Spain and Portugal are at the other end of the scale, which might surprise anyone who's been pickpocketed on holiday.

    Interestingly, the others with us in the group of 10 countries with the highest rates include both very affluent countries such as Switzerland, Ireland and Iceland and less affluent countries such as Estonia and Mexico.

    But, along with the rest of the world, our experience of most of these crimes continues to fall. (One year-prevalence rates for car theft have fallen from 2.7% in 1991 to 1.8%, for example.) It has fallen faster in some other places, and the authors speculate that "improved security may well have been one of the main forces behind the universal drop in crimes such as joyriding and household burglary."

    The more recent rise in victimisation in the less common crimes of robbery and assault has been mirrored -- and exceeded in quite a few other countries in the sample. Notable exceptions include the USA (which nonetheless still has a horrible record on gun crime, and much the highest rate for the use of weapons in sexual assaults). In general, these crimes fall more heavily on urban populations. The wildly varying rates reported in one place, Northern Ireland -- 0.5% (1995), 0.1% (1999) and 1.1% (04-05) -- suggests that this kind of survey has some real problems.

    Indeed, the authors emphasise that the section on sexual assaults needs to be approached very carefully, taking account widely varying cultural perceptions of what constitutes an assault. We surely don't believe, for example, that the incidence in of sexual assault in the past five years in Mexico has really been zero. But, even as the likelihood of the reporting of assault, especially in a domestic setting, has risen, the victimisation rate for sexual assault in New Zealand has halved since 1991.

    There is some unalloyed good news on the measures most directly impacted by policy and resourcing -- satisfaction with police performance (which combines reporting rates, public satisfaction with police, and police performance in dealing with reported crimes) and provision of victim support -- where New Zealand is stellar.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Since someone brought up crime stats perhaps we could file this soft on crims sob story in the recycle bin:

    Bruce Emery has told of his fears for his family as he began a prison sentence for the manslaughter of teen tagger Pihema Cameron.

    Responding to questions submitted through his lawyer Chris Comeskey, Emery said his wife Sotju and their three teenage daughters were struggling to come to terms with losing a husband and father.

    "I am devastated. I worry about my wife and children all the time," he told Sunday News.

    Emery, 51, had been forced to shut down his business, and his wife now had to make do on a benefit.

    Perhaps you should have thought about that before you stabbed someone to death, ay Bruce? But I love that a newspaper that often reads like the Sensible Sentencing Trust newsletter has found a convicted killer they can get the hankies out for...

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report

  • Matthew Poole,

    Whereas Tapu Misa thinks Emery's got off rather lightly, it seems. I'm tempted to agree with her, especially with the prospect of parole in a year's time. Where's McVicar and his outrage at parole for violent offenders? Oh, that's right. It's flip-flop man and his rubber "principles".

    Auckland • Since Mar 2007 • 4097 posts Report

  • Kumara Republic,

    Where's McVicar and his outrage at parole for violent offenders? Oh, that's right. It's flip-flop man and his rubber "principles".

    I'd wager it's not so much flip-flopping, but rather bare-faced rankism.

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report

  • giovanni tiso,

    But I love that a newspaper that often reads like the Sensible Sentencing Trust newsletter has found a convicted killer they can get the hankies out for

    Hands up he or she who, upon first hearing of the murder, didn't think "this man is going to get a whole lot of sympathy, and most of it is going to be of the wrong kind". One wishes that it wasn't journalists themselves extending it, though.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report

  • Lucy Stewart,

    But I love that a newspaper that often reads like the Sensible Sentencing Trust newsletter has found a convicted killer they can get the hankies out for...

    It's all about the fair and balanced reporting, Craig. Bay for the blood of some, bring out the hankies for others, and it all comes out even.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2105 posts Report

  • Kyle Matthews,

    Perhaps you should have thought about that before you stabbed someone to death, ay Bruce? But I love that a newspaper that often reads like the Sensible Sentencing Trust newsletter has found a convicted killer they can get the hankies out for...

    That article was particularly piss-me-off. What annoyed me the most was Emery and his lawyer's comments about how they thought Cameron's family was overdoing their grief.

    Maybe there are scenario's where it's OK for people completely unconnected to make such a comment. Maybe. The killer saying "oh, you're putting that on, it's not that sad". Fuck off.

    He also said that he was scared to go to jail and that there had been rumours that the Killer Bees might be after him. Maybe if you didn't demonstrate such fuckwit behaviour, you might get through your 9 months behind bars better. Duh.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report

  • Russell Brown,

    Possibly the most unpleasant comment from pages and pages of Your Views:

    **peejaytoo (Auckland)**

    Taggers are like possums. They sleep by day, come out at night and cause mass destruction.

    There is a bounty on possums.

    Emery should be paid his bounty, not ostracised and thrown in jail.

    Far out.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Lucy Stewart,

    The killer saying "oh, you're putting that on, it's not that sad". Fuck off.

    It certainly makes his claims of remorse less, shall we say, substantial. The whole "oh, let's all be sensible and focus on what the kid was doing out at night" - it smacks of an attempt to deflect attention from the fact that *someone was killed* that I find really contemptible.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2105 posts Report

  • Peter Darlington,

    Our rating is principally hurt by theft from cars and burglary. Spain and Portugal are at the other end of the scale, which might surprise anyone who's been pickpocketed on holiday.

    Being a dozy pillock, I left my wallet with hundreds of Euros in on the counter top at the Museo de Jamon (Museum of Ham - mmmm, best.museum.ever) on the Passeo del Prado in Madrid. Yep, right across from the main railway station, intersection of two of the busiest streets in Madrid, full of shysters and dodgy geezers etc...

    Went back in a mad panic thinking I was toast and there it was, still sitting in full view of everyone, untouched. Of course, later the same day my partner had to forcibly yank her bag to one side in a crowded Metro carriage to extricate a 13 yr old girl's hand from having a fossick around in it.

    Nelson • Since Nov 2006 • 949 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Where's McVicar and his outrage at parole for violent offenders? Oh, that's right. It's flip-flop man and his rubber "principles".

    Of course, this was the man who got face time on Three (and probably One) to opine that Antoine Dixon deserved to die, and it was a "win for his victims". God, could someone tell me which cave this troglodyte lives in, so I can dynamite it shut?

    That article was particularly piss-me-off. What annoyed me the most was Emery and his lawyer's comments about how they thought Cameron's family was overdoing their grief.

    Well, that's Chris Comesky for you -- a grandmaster media whore, if there ever was one. Sure, some of those victim impact statements (or at least the juicy bits that were reported) were far from temperately expressed. But if someone had stabbed my partner to death, I think I could make Christian Bale look like a model of Zen-master calm.

    But I think the most despicable Emery-related coverage was the front page Herald story that was pretty much a pitch for Enery's canonisation... and a few sentences suggesting the picture was a little more complex, and less flattering, was well buried on another page, below the fold.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report

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