That’s fantastic, thanks! The original article doesn’t really tackle the subject of prison abolition, just that TPM want it. That email tells me a lot about how the system would work.
It didn’t take much to convince me, but now I’m a fan of this approach (ok, to be fair I was already keen on a better system than putting all the minor criminals in a big group together to reenforce the behavior). Unfortunately we wouldn’t see societal results within a couple of election cycles so it’s hard to see how this could actually become reality without the risk of getting cut at the next government change. But this is the kind of future-thinking policy I like to see.
Oh I have a follow up question that you may or may not know the answer to. On rereading, I noticed they used the term “habilitation”, not “rehabilitation”. Is there significance in this distinction?
Remember, our society created these people because of the existing structure . The idea is not to let them out tomorrow, it’s to work towards this as an end goal. As an example, Scandinavia already has murderers rehabilitating by being carefully monitored while being integrated with the community.
Also, we start out on the journey with a rough idea of how we think it will go. 100% chance it will not go exacly to plan, but we respond to change, and the end goal is feasible even if we have to adjust the path as we learn.
And lastly, what does it cost to put someone in prison? It’s well over $100k a year per person. We could hire personal security details for everyone based on risk, and the cost would come out the same. Some people would need a couple of bodyguards, some would need one, and most would only need checkins more like parole.
The issue is that if you catch someone dealing weed and put them in prison, you make all their friends convicts. They lose their job (and almost any chance of ever getting another). You make their kids grow up with one parent, and you make your partner struggle to raise their kids on their own. This changes the path their life is on, and their kids.
If you instead got everyone to stay in the community (to start with, just those convicted of nonviolent offenses), they can keep their job, be there for their partner and kids, keep most of their friends.
Over time this changes the cycle producing criminals, cuts out a gang recruitment channel, and raises kids less likely to commit crimes themselves. It’s a multigenerational change. Each step would not be a big jump, but I think an end goal of having no prisons is feasible. If it’s truly not, we would work that out over the next few decades as we worked towards it. The worst thing that can come out of trying is a lower crime rate with a small number of very dangerous people still needing to be locked up.
Plus we have private companies running prisons, who very much don’t want to see the cycle broken.
And I just want to reiterate that we don’t just stop locking people up overnight. It’s likely decades of small steps.
The idea is to have it as an end goal. When all the non-violent prisoners are integrated in society and breaking the cycle, it may not seem like such a big jump. Plus, we will simply have a lot less violent criminals if people aren’t locked up with others who think it’s appropriate behaviour. Having a person that murdered someone living in a house with a 24/7 security detail isn’t really that farfetched - and in 20 years is probably even more feasible, with newer technology.
It’s not about ruling out detaining people. It’s that prison is a terrible answer to the problem. Some person thinks that crime is acceptable. Let’s put them in a building full other other people who think that crime is acceptable, so the only people the associate with are criminals. It’s a system that makes more criminals, and it will be seen as obviously a bad idea in 100 years.
I cannot support Act policies, no matter how much I dislike the other parties. Here are some scary Act policies:
They want to abolish the Human Rights Commission
Allow unregulated overseas investment from OECD countries
Sell all or part of many state owned enterprises (e.g. sell 49% of KiwiRail).
Sell public hospital buildings to private investors
Water pollution would be managed by letting companies bid for the right to pollute up to the allowed pollution levels
They want to repeal the zero carbon (by 2050) act
They will abolish the building act, replacing it with mandatory insurance. The idea is if it’s not built to a good standard then insurers won’t insure.
And here are some others (some seem to overlap with National):
They want to abolish fair pay agreements
They want to abolish rules that protect valuable natural areas
They want to decrease tax for higher earners, and increase tax for lower earners
They would re-allow live exports of animals
They oppose any laws banning hate speech
They would abolish ministries for Pacific people, Ethnic communities, Women, Māori development, etc.
Reduce the rate superannuation increases each year, and stop putting money in the super fund
Remove the Matariki public holiday
Reintroduce the 90 day fire at will period
Remove or reduce government kiwisaver contributions for most workers
They want to increase the prison population (see my other comment about private prisons)
They want to introduce privately owned toll roads
They want to pay emissions trading scheme revenue back to everyone as a tax credit, instead of spending it on reducing emissions
They want to stop contractors from challenging their status, to allow employers to bully employees into being paid as a contractor to avoid paying leave entitlements and other protections
Make a literacy test a requirement to get parole (again, private prisons want people to stay longer)
Hold a referendum to introduce a rule that allows anyone to take the government to court if they think new laws don’t fit a set of standards
Abolish the climate emergency response fund
I’m gonna quote this one: "This party says that the current government requires councils to review speed limits and reduce them in high-risk areas like school zones. This party believes that this is slowing people down and making society less productive."
Create a new state owned enterprise to manage roads, being required to return a profit via charging people for the use of roads (no current plans stated to sell off 49% but I think it’s implied)
Act is the party that represents the idea that regulation messes with a system, and the best system has almost no regulation. Any tampering causes unintended consequences so we shouldn’t tamper. Which is silly, and I believe the only reason they support the idea is because they benefit from it.
I have issues with this specific policy of TPM but I wouldn’t touch ACT with a 10 foot pole if my life was on the line.
Yep this is pretty much my position. There are definitely issues with the details of this proposal. In general, I like the idea of steps towards abolition of prisons (learning from each step and adjusting expectations as we go). But I can’t imagine a world where I’d vote for Act. Their views are fundamentally against my lived values.
TPM isn’t trying to get votes from the general population. They are trying to get votes from Māori.
Over 50% of the prison population are Māori. There’s a high chance that Māori voters know someone that has been to prison, and there’s a good chance that many believe they never should have been there.
I think TPM have been around long enough to do some opinion polling and testing of waters before announcing a policy like this. There’s a good chance it’s a popular policy with the voters they are targeting.
Personally I’d like to see three or four parties on either side of the spectrum get enough votes to hold seats. so that parties have options to form a government. The idea that if you don’t want Labour then you have to vote National/Act is damaging I think, and is pushing many people to vote against their own beliefs.
Oh wow, this brings back memories! I love how years later you find out this game from your childhood was actually a tech demo.
And those shareware games. Crystal Caves and Commander Keen come to mind. You got this full length fun game for free, and then they charged you for the sequels. I never played any sequels though 😆
Thanks for submitting this. I had intended to add it for September, but missed it and feel like it should be up a whole month. So I’ve thrown in another image for the rest of this month, and I’ll add this one for October 🙂
Thanks for submitting this. I had intended to start photos in September, but missed it and feel like they should be up a whole month. So I’ve thrown in another image for the rest of this month, have the other submitted photo for October, and I’ll add this one for November 🙂
Aotearoa Daily Kōrero 10/9/2023
Welcome to today’s daily kōrero!...
Vote Compass New Zealand 2023 (votecompass.tvnz.co.nz)
So I had a look at vote compass and my top three are Green, TOP and TPM...
Prehistoric Bird Once Thought to Be Extinct Returns to New Zealand Wild (www.goodnewsnetwork.org)
Johnny Cash - Hurt (2002) (youtu.be)
Te Pāti Māori promise prison abolition in new justice policy (www.1news.co.nz)
Aotearoa Daily Kōrero 9/9/2023
Welcome to today’s daily kōrero!...
Suggestions for !newzealand banner image?
Last month we set a starry banner image for Matariki. It would be good to have some suggestions for new banner images....