Tag: Prisons
Dogma or data? Why sentencing reforms in NZ will annoy judges and clog the courts
Judges routinely reduce sentences based on mitigating factors. But a proposal to cap such reductions will potentially lead to fewer guilty pleas and put more strain on a the justice system.
Tragedy and hope: what the abuse-in-care report will say and what has to happen now
The 16-volume royal commission report, to be made public tomorrow, will show beyond doubt how state policies and institutions have been guilty of enabling abuse. Change has to begin immediately.
Most prisoners never receive visitors, and this puts them at a higher risk of reoffending
Receiving visitors while behind bars was a raft of benefits, but people have reported many barriers. It must be made easier to help drive down recidivism rates.
How mistaken identity can lead to wrongful convictions
Leonard Mack spent years in a US jail for a crime he didn’t commit. Here’s how identification procedures can, and have, led to wrongful convictions, and what can be done to prevent it.
‘They weren’t there when I needed them’: we asked former prisoners what happens when support services fail
Most people leaving prison face an uphill battle of service navigation that is too often deficit-focused, intentionally seeking out the failures of the individual and centred on punitive responses.
