Readers' views: Only way is nip crime in bud

There has been a strong response by readers to the Treasury's suggestion that police need to be more selective about which crimes to pursue. Here is a selection.

The only way to reduce crime is to nip it in the bud. We could learn a lesson from policing tactics in New York, which has had phenomenal success in reducing crime overall. First offenders are given a short sharp shock, a custodial sentence in the most uncomfortable conditions and solitary confinement. This makes them realise we will not tolerate this behaviour and most will think twice before reoffending.
- Steve Barnes.

The stiffer the sentences the better the deterrence! Look at Singapore. We're going backwards. Comparatively, NZ is too soft on criminals, hence the growing problems. Cosy prisons, criminals suing the Crown for bad treatment ... outrageous!
- Stephen Tan.

Non-violent cannabis offences should be overlooked, unless sale or supply to minors is involved. All violent or destructive crimes should be punished.
- Simon Drozdowski.

The police have been selectively charging Maori and protecting Pakeha for a long, long time. Pakeha do not get approached in bars and provoked by police officers. I know that carloads of young Pakeha teenagers are routinely pulled over on Friday nights, driver intoxicated, and told to lock the car and walk to town (driver included). No charge is laid against the driver. In similar cases with Maori kids, the driver is charged and passengers are provoked into reacting. All are charged with obstruction.
- Te Miha.

No one seems to have considered reducing cell time for victimless crimes instead of just low-level crime. There are certainly plenty of low-level offences that should be punished with jail time where appropriate. Dodging fines and anything involving assault - no matter how minor - should be taken very seriously. Minor drug use involving cannabis would be better off treated with fines.
- Justin Cook.

Being selective about enforcing the law and tinkering with prison sentences is a classic "ambulance at the bottom of the cliff" analogy. We need to change attitudes to crime and part of achieving that is to increase deterrents. We need more police on our streets. Part of the reason that the police have recruiting problems is probably that potential candidates know that they are overstretched.
- R.H. Powell.

Why not make inmates do hard labour, as I'm sure they would not want to reoffend if they were going to find it tough in prison. People will commit more smaller crimes if they know they are not going to get punished.
- Graeme Petrie.

I live in England where low-level crime is treated as a failing of society and not the criminal's fault. In the past year my sister has had a scratch etched into the length of her car and had the side wing mirror broken off, and she has had to pay out of her own pocket for repairs. Yet if caught, nothing would be done to these low-level criminals except a finger wagged at them.
- David Poddington.

If it's a bank or the rich that's robbed it will, of course, be given top priority by the police (worldwide) and the courts will hand out severe sentences even for a first offender. This is done to set an example to the peasants! If it's a house robbery in South Auckland, the police will most likely not even bother to investigate.
- Maurice Atkinson.

For sure, graduate the punishment to fit the crime. However, if you start out with community work and it is not completed then you have to escalate, not ignore or repeat. Breaches of community work sentences or protection orders, driving while disqualified, failing to attend alcohol, drug, parenting or anger courses or not paying fines - that is where a serious criminal begins.
- Liz.

The one thing the Treasury didn't factor in is that when crooks are in jail they aren't committing crime. The best place for people who steal or are violent is in jail. I will gladly pay my taxes to build as many prisons as we need to hold these crooks.
- Ted Heath.

I work with incarcerated people just released from county jails and state prisons in Arizona. So I always note justice (and NZ families') news when I read the paper (daily). I was first shocked and am now constantly surprised at the rate of incarceration statistics in NZ. NZ is a small nation, a third smaller than Arizona, which some consider has a "police state" mentality. Why on Earth do we have such a high incarceration rate?
- Nan Pritchard.

What a smack in the face to the overwhelming number of New Zealanders who voted for stronger sentencing! For most of those people, justice in the form of criminals receiving a fair sentence would have been the prime consideration at the time of the referendum, and that of costs associated with prisons is irrelevant. It's politicians, and the Treasury, who get "hung up" on the cost factor, not those who pay their salaries - us.
- Barry Easton.

One of the biggest mistakes being made in the system today is that there are not nearly enough early intervention programmes in NZ. In response to crime, the Government is more reactive than preventive. Locking up a symptom will never stop the cause. You must first identify the problem then plan a solution, or your costs will run into the billions.
- Sue Dobson.

This is going for the right goal with the wrong method. Subjective decisions on enforcement must be made out in the open, otherwise there is too much scope for injustice and corruption. This is why we have a court system.
- Phil Sinclair.

The key word in this article is Treasury. The bean counters are not qualified to judge who belongs in jail. Judges, magistrates and bail sergeants make those decisions and are qualified to do so.
- Paul Brooks.