Simon Power, Pita Sharples

15 March, 2009
Ministers to co-host meeting on the drivers of crime

A ministerial meeting on the drivers of crime next month will be co-hosted by Justice Minister Simon Power and Associate Corrections Minister Dr Pita Sharples.

The meeting will be held at Parliament on April 3.

Mr Power, who is organising the day-long meeting, says he is delighted Dr Sharples has agreed to play a leading role.

"Dr Sharples has valuable experience in the law and order sector. His presence will add a huge amount to what we are trying to achieve.

"One of the more difficult issues in New Zealand's criminal offending statistics is the over-representation of Maori. Anything we can do to reduce Maori offending will have a positive impact on the overall crime rate, and I hugely value Dr Sharples' experience and advice in this area."

Invitations have been extended to about 100 people from non-government organisations and agencies involved in preventing and dealing with crime, and with the results of crime.

"The idea of this meeting is to add another dimension to the debate - to include the drivers of crime as well as the 'outputs of crime'," Mr Power says.

The Government's first priority in law and order was to improve the safety of the public, and legislation in the first 100 days focused on improving the response to crime.

"We have passed or introduced laws to: protect victims of domestic violence, make sentences for crimes against children harsher, make it harder to get bail and for repeat violent offenders to get parole, reduce the influence of gangs, expand the collection and use of DNA samples, put victims of crime first, and target youth crime.

"Now it's time to commence a discussion about how we stop crime happening in the first place.

"For too long, the debate has been fixated on how we deal with offenders after the fact. We need to change that.

"Compared to the ongoing debate about what to do with offenders after the offence is commited, I believe it is something we can all come together on.

"I am determined that by bringing together people from across the wider justice spectrum we can come to some agreement on what the most influential drivers of crime that the Government should target are.

"I am confident we will receive an enthusiastic response. It's a debate this country must have."

ENDS

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