The Government has obviously decided that its law and order week. It started with tougher sentences for people who attack first responders and prison officers – which is a good thing.   

Then it was tougher sentences for people who dish out coward punches – that can’t come soon enough.  

And the latest are these tougher measures to try and do something about the rate of shoplifting. Again, something I’ve got no argument against.  

But here’s where the seed of doubt starts to emerge.   

When it comes to crime, pretty much the only thing governments can do is make sure there are laws in place to try and deal with it adequately.  

The last government was accused of being easy-osey on crime. The previous Police Commissioner was accused of being the same.  

Then, National especially, promised things would be different under its watch, which is why we’re seeing all these announcements this week.  

But where the rubber hits the road is what is actually done to catch the criminals —that’s where the police come into it— and, once they are caught, what punishments are actually handed out to them. Which is where the justice system comes into it.  

And those two areas are where I see the Government’s good intentions struggling.  

Because you ask anyone and they’ll tell you that the cops are struggling to keep on top of things as it is.  

Even with a change in Police Commissioner —with the new guy seeming to be much more up the Government’s street than the last guy— the police are still struggling to cope with their workload, aren’t they? 

That's not a criticism of the police, it’s just how things are. So that’s one stumbling block.  

The other one is the justice system.   

How confident are you that, even when these criminals do make it to court, the judges they appear before aren't going to be unswayed by the usual talk about hard upbringings and misfortune and “poor decision-making”? 

In some respects, I see that as more of a problem than the lack of police resources.   

And when I say the justice system, I’m not just talking about the judges, I’m also talking about the people who represent these criminals.  

Because I think there is a systemic issue within the justice system that has taken years to develop and which, I believe, will take years to change. Where the lawyers fight for minimum sentences and where the judges often, it seems, fall for it.   

Which is why people are asking why the Government isn’t requiring minimum sentences for shoplifting, coward punches, and attacks on first responders and corrections staff. It’s setting higher maximum sentences, but no minimum sentences.  

Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith said on Newstalk ZB today that the Government might look at minimum sentences, but not for now. Despite the precedent that has been set with some of the ridiculously low sentences we’ve seen in our courts in recent times.  

Which is why, although I’m pleased the Government is doing what it’s doing, I have serious doubts that the police and the justice system will deliver what the Government wants. 

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