Law & Order
Safer Communities
United Future believes that strong local communities are the building blocks of a successful nation.
United Future's position is to:
- ensure adequate police coverage of rural areas
- increase staffing levels at Police Communications Centres to ensure that 111 calls are responded to promptly and effectively, and consider returning them to control at the regional level to utilise local knowledge
- re-introduce 'beat' cops for every neighbourhood, to raise the visibility of police and their interaction with the community they serve, as well as boosting intelligence-gathering capabilities
- ensure that police target and monitor the persistent criminals in our communities, particularly gangs.
Early Intervention
United Future strongly believes in the theory of having 'a fence at the top of the cliff rather than an ambulance at the bottom' when it comes to dealing with young offenders or at-risk youth.
It is a fact that most violent and serious crime in New Zealand is committed by people who have previously been convicted of petty misdemeanours at a young age.
United Future's position is to:
- encourage schools to implement a character education programme
- expand successful early intervention programmes such as Parents As First Teachers, Home Interaction Programme for Parents and Youngsters (HIPPY), Family Start, and Project Early
- promote free parenting programmes for all new parents, and ensure that families at-risk are also referred to them
- get tough on truancy by establishing a national, centralised database to track student enrolment and attendance
- increase community sentencing options for 'entry level' property crime such as tagging, vandalism, theft and graffiti, in keeping with our 'No Crime Is Too Small" policing strategy, to send the message that crimes against property are crimes against people
Support for Victims
United Future is committed to upholding the rights of victims and putting in place a system that ensures the victims of crime are compensated for the emotional, physical and financial harm they have suffered.
United Future's position is to:
- fully support victim restoration programmes for non-violent crimes to ensure those offenders and their families compensate victims for their losses and face up to the people they have hurt
- ensure that offenders complete their commitments under restorative justice contracts, and ensure that victims are kept informed of progress if they wish to be
- ensure that Courts make the welfare and safety of victims, their families and the public paramount when considering bail applications
Restorative Justice
United Future is committed to working with non-governmental organisations to reduce the rate of recidivism in New Zealand.
This does not mean that we are soft on crime, rather that we have identified a number of initiatives that if successfully implemented can have a significant effect on lowering the number of repeat offenders in our prisons, thus lowering the amount of crime that takes place within our communities.
United Future's position is to:
- support the development of a multi-party accord on crime with the aim of shifting political debate to issues of fact and the reasons for New Zealand's high rate of recidivism
- increase minimum non-parole periods for violent offenders and those who commit serious sexual crimes
- introduce tougher minimum penalties for child abuse and neglect, child sexual offences and child pornography
- multiple violent and sexual offenders will not be eligible for bail
- deny home detention for violent offenders, drug dealers, and child abusers
Providing a Co-ordinated Response to Justice
While prison is undeniably the public face of corrections, United Future is committed to providing a co-ordinated response to justice that takes into account the needs of both offender and victim and the safety of the general public.
Smooth running of our court, prison and probation systems is crucial if we are to successfully manage the implementation of justice in New Zealand.
United Future's position is to:
- allow treatment options to be incorporated into sentencing, combined with the use of further sanctions for continued abuse of drugs and other re-offending
- actively promote non-judicial case resolution (mediation or arbitration) for civil cases, making it a compulsory first step prior to court action
- tender prison management to both state and private providers, and ensure that prison construction costs are minimised
- ensure that prison inmates undertake employment while inside at 'normal' pay rates with deductions for tax, cost of board and keep, restitution to victims, fines, and their own family.
- ensure that the Community Probation Service is sufficiently staffed to enforce release conditions and enhance public safety.