Incarceration Is No Solution: The First Responders Bill Will Cause Harm / Robert Moore
Below is the transcript of a speech given by Robert Moore, a researcher at Anglican Action, directed to the Justice Select Committee regarding the First Responders Bill currently before parliament.
Tuatahi he mihi ki ngā Atua Tūpuna i te Ao katoa, he mihi nui ki a koutou, e ngā rangatira, e ngā Mema Pāremata me ōna kaimahi, ki a koutou katoa o tē motu nei, e huihui mai nei i tēnei ata, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa.
He uri tēnei o Tainui waka, Whāingaroa moana, Waikato iwi. Ko Robert Moore au. Ko au he kairangahau mo ngā take e pā ana ki te mahi Whakatika, Whakamana, Whakaora i te Taiao me ngā Tangata i Mahi Mihinare.
To the members of the Justice Select Committee I thank you for the opportunity to present today. I am a researcher at Anglican Action supporting my front-line social and community work colleagues to address bigger picture issues impacting on the lives of the people we work alongside. I’ll briefly speak to some of the points in my submission.
We oppose this bill.
At Anglican Action Mahi Mihinare we offer youth mentoring for those involved in the justice system, we provide residential support for mothers and their babies, we provide transitional accommodation and support for those returning to the community from prison or other institutions, and we provide accommodation with wrap around supports for those who would otherwise be held in remand awaiting sentencing simply because they do not have a safe address to be bailed to.
We see the victims and perpetrators of violence, addiction, the impact of victimisation and incarceration, and the struggle that many have in overcoming these parts of their pasts. Services for family violence, mental health, drug and alcohol abuse and addiction, all have challenges in accessing them and the ongoing positive support required to implement and take on board these learnings, are underfunded at best.
Nobody deserves to go to work and be victimised by violence or abuse. But naming these specific professions sits uneasily. In particular the power dynamics between police and prison officers over the public and inmates should not be unacknowledged here.
But what about women who are abused by their partners? What about the children who grow up in homes where violence is normalised? What about our babies who are deprived of the opportunity to grow into amazing adults because their lives were taken from us by violence, abuse, and neglect. Why should a police officer have greater legislative protection from assault than a baby?
On this ground the bill should fail.
But also if this, then who next? Should frontline ER staff not be given similar protections? Should my social work colleagues who are out there everyday supporting – at times – violent offenders not be granted these protections? Well I talked to my colleagues about this bill, and the thought of holding over someone up to ten years imprisonment should they become violent, will not reduce that person’s inclination towards becoming violent, and can in fact be a barrier to building a successful relationship with that person.
The people we work with want to become the best versions of themselves, rebuilding their lives, reconnecting with children, and getting and holding onto good jobs and permanent accommodation, yet they face discrimination, setbacks, and barriers. They can become frustrated and triggered to violence, alcoholism, or making bad decisions. We know the prison population disproportionately contains people with traumatic brain injuries, mental health, personality, learning, and addiction issues.
This isn’t about excusing what someone has done, nobody deserves to experience violence. But here is where we should not remove the ability for a judge to assess the context of an offence by imposing a mandatory minimum sentence. On this ground the bill should fail.
In regards to the deterrence argument, to quote Professor Geraldine McKenzie Dean of the Faculty of Law at Australia’s Bond University, “There is certainly little evidence to support that mandatory sentencing deters potential offenders for many violent crimes, particularly those involving drug and alcohol-fuelled violence, and almost invariably not for crimes of passion and the like which are spur of the moment…”, and, “in relation to deterrence, it makes no sense to introduce mandatory sentences for crimes that have no element of pre-mediation on the basis of deterrence.” I’m sure you would all agree with me, that it would be an extreme minority of individuals who would sit around at home planning to go out and assault a first responder.
On the grounds that this bill hasn’t evidenced its effectiveness, this bill should fail.
Also of particular concern for us are the numbers of individuals this Bill is talking about, upwards of 4,500. Considering our current prison population is around 10,000, these numbers are astronomical. And in my written submission I draw your attention to the Bail Amendment Act 2013 as an example of unintended overcapture, that Bill anticipated 50 extra beds per year but in reality the figure is closer to 1500. The financial cost of incarcerating an extra 4,500 people alone, potentially upwards of $200million per annum should evidence this to not be a good piece of legislation.
On this ground the bill should fail.
There is however the loophole, that some offenders under this Bill will be spared incarceration at all by way of it being ‘manifestly unjust’. But I would ask that you think about who the kinds of people are that will avoid a prison sentence because, removing them from their families and communities would be manifestly unjust.
And if, like me, you find that your intuition leads you to the assumption, that should this Bill pass, that for equivalent offences, more Māori than non-Māori, disproportionately, will receive sentences of incarceration, then I implore of this Committee to not in good conscience be complicit in enabling, here and now, one more piece of racist legislation. Either we’re serious and intentional that this will not impact more Māori than non-Māori, or, this is not good governance.
On this ground the bill should fail.
We appreciate the intention in striving for a future free from violence and abuse, but we must look at alternatives and prevention. In some of my research with Community Centres last year, people were calling out for a reinstatement of permanent community-based policing. People talked about the benefits of having had proactive police who over time fostered relationships with their communities. People felt they weren’t being profiled. There were real relationships. People felt like they could be forthcoming and disclose incidents, not only for punishment, but out of a desire to see that person get the help they need. When a local youth did something, the community constable would likely have known this rangatahi their whole life, the cop would likely know their parents. It’s both harder to get away, but also harder to offend when you’re living in these kinds of relationships. But relationships take time. The aunty or uncle who live down the road, the one you’re afraid will tell your parents if you are mucking around, is disappearing. Socio-economic transience is displacing many of those lived, long-term community relationships, and they can’t be outsourced or delivered remotely.
I think we’re at a real turning point for justice in this country. Some time ago now Bill English described prisons as a ‘moral and fiscal failure’, we’ve got Te Uepū Hāpori i te Ora: The Safe and Effective Justice Advisory Group coming out with great research and recommendations. We cannot afford - in any sense of the word - to continue treating incarceration as a solution. New Zealanders deserve better and we want leadership that support that.
For the cost of this Bill we would rather see deescalation counsellors accompany first responders. We would rather see education on anger and dealing with emotions and triggers in schools. We would rather see alcohol and drug support services fully funded and expanded. We would rather see mental health and crisis support services expanded and funded to meet the need we already know is in the community. We need to be building up communities in this country, not building prisons.
No reira, he mihi ano ki a koutou.
Robert Moore (Waikato, Te Ātiawa) works at Anglican Action in Hamilton as a researcher on social and environmental justice issues. He also helps support a number of community environmental and social service projects across the Waikato, and is currently studying a Masters in Māori and Pacific Development.
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