Complicit Politicians Sneering At Those Attacked by Recidivist Criminals

Guest Post: Is Three Strikes “Silly”?

Republished from Kiwiblog

A guest post from David Garrett:

Before and after his abortive attempt to repeal the three strikes (3S) law, Andrew Little’s only comment on it was and remains that it is “silly”, and “the high water mark of policy stupidity”. To the best of my knowledge, he has never actually explained what is “silly” about it, or explained why he thinks it is “stupid”. Perhaps he thinks  the voters are stupid, and will just take his word for it? So, do his  officials agree with him? It would seem not.

In a report on 3S released in December last year, Justice Department officials said inter alia  “the existing evidence is mixed and more robust research is needed to understand the true effects of these laws” and “Research in this area appears to be prone to political bias.” Aint that the truth.  However buried in the report is this:

“…in comparison with second strikeable offences committed before the law came into effect there has been a drop in the number of second strike offences since the laws implementation.”

That statement clearly states that specific deterrence is occurring.