The retailer reported an increase of 38% in retail crime incidents between February and April 2023 compared to the same period last year. Shoplifting alone saw a staggering rise of 57% over the past 12 months.
Increased crime across New Zealand is part of a broader wave of lawlessness. A total of 516 ram raids were reported by the police in 2022, and gang membership appears to have increased (though precise numbers are naturally hard to ascertain).
The Government has responded poorly to these alarming trends. Fog cannon subsidies are unlikely to reduce crime significantly.
To tackle crime effectively, a thorough strategy grounded in reliable evidence is necessary. Research suggests that crime reduction requires a multifaceted approach that goes beyond traditional criminal justice interventions.
For example, University of Ottawa criminologist Irvin Waller emphasised the social issues leading to crime. In his book Less Law, More Order: The Truth About Reducing Crime Waller argued that tackling family violence and insufficient job training are more effective than incarceration or harsher penalties.
In their comprehensive review, Reducing Crime: The Effectiveness of Criminal Justice Interventions, Amanda Perry and her co-authors reviewed over 100 studies examining the effectiveness of criminal justice interventions in reducing crime. They highlighted the importance of evaluating interventions based on their costs and benefits.
Most recently, Jennifer Doleac summarised the empirical evidence on how to intervene with existing offenders to reduce criminal behaviour in the Journal of Economic Literature. Among her findings was strong evidence that increasing the probability of punishment reduces recidivism across a wide range of offenders.
Contrary to such empirical findings, the Government has primarily engaged in wishful thinking. Its simplistic goal was to lower the prison population – and indeed, it has fallen substantially over the past five years.
That would have been a positive outcome had it resulted from a reduction in crime. Unfortunately, the opposite is the case.
Considering the current crime wave, a return to evidence-based policies is overdue. By focusing on what works, tracking progress, and rewarding success, New Zealand can break the cycle of crime and create safer communities.
The cry for help by Foodstuffs North Island is a stark reminder of the urgent need for evidence-based public policy.
Dr Oliver Hartwich is the Executive Director of The New Zealand Initiative think tank. This article was published HERE
The Government has responded poorly to these alarming trends. Fog cannon subsidies are unlikely to reduce crime significantly.
To tackle crime effectively, a thorough strategy grounded in reliable evidence is necessary. Research suggests that crime reduction requires a multifaceted approach that goes beyond traditional criminal justice interventions.
For example, University of Ottawa criminologist Irvin Waller emphasised the social issues leading to crime. In his book Less Law, More Order: The Truth About Reducing Crime Waller argued that tackling family violence and insufficient job training are more effective than incarceration or harsher penalties.
In their comprehensive review, Reducing Crime: The Effectiveness of Criminal Justice Interventions, Amanda Perry and her co-authors reviewed over 100 studies examining the effectiveness of criminal justice interventions in reducing crime. They highlighted the importance of evaluating interventions based on their costs and benefits.
Most recently, Jennifer Doleac summarised the empirical evidence on how to intervene with existing offenders to reduce criminal behaviour in the Journal of Economic Literature. Among her findings was strong evidence that increasing the probability of punishment reduces recidivism across a wide range of offenders.
Contrary to such empirical findings, the Government has primarily engaged in wishful thinking. Its simplistic goal was to lower the prison population – and indeed, it has fallen substantially over the past five years.
That would have been a positive outcome had it resulted from a reduction in crime. Unfortunately, the opposite is the case.
Considering the current crime wave, a return to evidence-based policies is overdue. By focusing on what works, tracking progress, and rewarding success, New Zealand can break the cycle of crime and create safer communities.
The cry for help by Foodstuffs North Island is a stark reminder of the urgent need for evidence-based public policy.
Dr Oliver Hartwich is the Executive Director of The New Zealand Initiative think tank. This article was published HERE
3 comments:
It sure doesn't help that crims know nobody is going to physically stop them leaving the store with their stash. Even the young, minimum-wage security guard!
And the chance of the Police showing up in less than 3 hours, if at all, is miniscule so they've got plenty of time to stop for a McDonalds before heading home to stock up the gang fridge.
Even if they were unlucky enough to encounter a passing patrol car, they'd get a stern telling off and told not to do it again....and again....and again!
Because the cops have an aversion to arresting people these days. Can't blame them really. All that paper work so the courts can let them go with an apology. Who needs it!
Our current government doesn't have the collective brain power to figure out that if you don't enforce the law and punish people accordingly for breaking it then crime spirals out of control.
Hardly surprising, when the Cabinet is filled with bozos who don't understand their own terms of employment...even when they're told 12 times!!!!
It's bloody criminal!
Consider our education system where children, right from preschool upwards, are not corrected in case they have their self esteem damaged . Then there are Loony European theories which have a sentimental view of human nature frequently invented by people who were childless. So much of our education system is weighed down by this theoretical garbage.
Of course silly parents have absorbed this stuff as well which increases the chances of producing badly misbehaving children who become out of control monsters as adolescents.
Then there is the misbehaviour and mental problems that are the proven product of persistent underachievement compounding the above mentioned.
Unstructured and undisciplined learning that prevails in our present schooling
in all subjects at all levels.causes a double whammy of problems that will not go away until we change.
Many of the offenders have been influenced by others captured by the imagine decolonisation mantra. This is a theoretical concept; they only understand tangible things so the concept is reinterpreted as enact decolonisation. So colonist derived law is replaced by taua, traditonal raiding parties. None now believe in a life hereafter so that encouragement of moral behaviour is gone. 200 yers ago England maintained order despite no police. Banishment to the colonies certainly helped. Australia recognised this when it returned many of our stalwarts. Could we re purpose the Chathams?
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