Christian Heritage NZ “Parks” Capital Punishment
Christian Heritage NZ announced today that it was putting to one side its previous policy of capital punishment for
murder. CHNZ leader Ewen McQueen said the policy was being “parked” because there was not widespread agreement on the
issue within the Christian / family values constituency. It was also a policy that tended to be controversial, and had
the potential to be a distraction from the key family values issues that the party wanted to focus on at the next
election.
He said
“ The new leadership team is not afraid of being controversial. However capital punishment is not a hill we are willing
to die on. We want to fight for positive policies to affirm marriage, rebuild family life, and protect the lives of
unborn children. Those are the sorts of issues and policies that are going to unite our core constituency. Those are
also the issues and policies that New Zealand needs to address, rather than having an unfruitful debate about one
particular type of punishment.”
The CHNZ leader went on to say that the party still believed the justice system needed to be tougher and supported
longer sentences for violent crime and progressive sentencing to deter repeat offending. CHNZ also wanted families of
murder victims to be allowed to make personal impact statements to sentencing judges and to be given direct
representation at Parole Board hearings.
However Mr McQueen said the root of much crime was family breakdown and there was an urgent need for policies that
addressed this issue. He stated,
“ The rising numbers of fatherless families in New Zealand over the last thirty years has helped to create a generation
of alienated and angry young men. It has been one of the key drivers of increasing levels of violent crime. In light of
this the best crime prevention programme we can implement is to take steps to rebuild family life. CHNZ’s primary
commitment is to doing just that.”
The decision to “park” the capital punishment policy has the strong support of CHNZ members. Over 80% of those who
participated in a recent membership vote on the issue were in favour of the change. Mr McQueen said this reflected a
genuine desire on the part of the party to avoid unnecessarily divisive issues, and instead focus on the key
pro-marriage and pro-life areas that would have strong support in the wider Christian community.
Ewen McQueen
Leader, Christian Heritage NZ