Free Republic

Zero tolerance could nip crime careers in the bud 14 March 2006 Several titillating newspaper columns have recently been devoted to bail rules, rising prisoner numbers, jails, and the lack of criminal rehabilitation. The killer of Hinewaoriki "Lillybing" Karaitiana-Matiaha boasts she is not reformed. Special pleaders push pet theories. However, no journalist seems game to tackle the cause of the growing problems faced by the police, the justice system, and the wider community that relies on their protection. Why do gangs fight openly in suburban streets and small towns? Why do the police fail to follow up on most burglaries...

Over the years I’ve paid my dues to many liberal causes. I belonged to the New Zealand Peace Council and later took a leading role fighting New Zealand’s involvement in Vietnam. I voted for the DPB in 1973 and chaired the first parliamentary select committee to consider a bill legalising homosexuality in 1974. I’ve always supported a woman’s right to choose an abortion, and have strongly favoured their rights to equality. Racial discrimination gets to me where I live: at graduate school in America’s Deep South I joined picket lines against restaurants refusing to serve Blacks, then marched in 1981...