What has United Future Abandoned?

Thursday 8 Aug 2002 Stephen Franks Press Releases -- Crime & Justice -- Zero Tolerance for Crime

"I very much hope that the prime minister's throwaway reference to a strong victim's rights bill is not the only remnant salvaged by United Future from their proclaimed commitment to tougher criminal justice," ACT Justice Spokesman MP Stephen Franks said today.

"United Future promised their voters to push for tougher sentencing. Did that policy finish on election night, or are they committed to tougher sentencing so long as it doesn't embarrass their new partner?

"By guaranteeing to keep Labour in power United Future may have given up their leverage. In its previous term, Labour foisted fraudulent parole and sentencing reform legislation on people who voted overwhelmingly to move away from the decades of failed theory.

"The Victim's Rights Bill was stalled an entire parliamentary term by Labour. If Mr Dunne has only managed to secure a promise to get it through this year, how will Marc Alexander justify himself to the Sensible Sentencing people? The Bill was way overdue anyway.

"It needs a right for victims to appear in court, and to make submissions on sentencing at least as freely as the offender's whanau and representatives.

"The Prime Minister's brief reference also implies that the Parole Act and Sentencing Act survive largely unchanged. If so, United Future has sold their birth right for a mess of potage," Mr Franks said.

For more information visit ACT online at http://www.act.org.nz or contact the ACT Parliamentary Office at act@parliament.govt.nz.

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