Real cause of our high jail numbers

‘We reap what we sow’’ originated from farming to highlight the experience that, if you don’t work in partnership with nature, you get a dud crop.

This phrase comes to mind when I think about the latest twist in the crime and punishment debate: the numbers of people in prisons. The focus on the product of crime – prisoners and victims – gives little attention to the root causes of the problem. That is to say, we are worried by what we’re reaping and not enough by what we’re sowing.

Justice Minister Andrew Little wants to find ways to reduce the prison population. Essentially, this will be achieved by softening bail legislation and making parole easier to get.

The result will be more offenders on the streets, and public safety will suffer.

The inconvenient truth about high prison rates is that crime has fallen. New Zealand’s homicides peaked at 176 a year, but have now declined to about 80, and the rate is still falling.

As New Zealand locked up its

criminals for longer, the terrible crimes that resulted in the formation of the Sensible Sentencing Trust, such as the murders of Teresa Cormack, Kylie Smith, and Karla Cardno, have declined.

But locking people up is a response to criminals, not the complete answer to preventing the creation of criminals.

I was born in 1951, when crime and prison numbers were low, averaging one or two homicides a year until the early

1960s. So what went wrong? What is different about our country now that is creating this new breed of criminals?

The one common denominator – that Mr Little and his colleagues won’t dare talk about – is the traditional family.

I’m talking about a stable family unit; two parents and the children they bring into a loving cherished relationship – where the child grows up being taught right from wrong – and to become a lawabiding contributing citizen.

The figures on the demise of the traditional family speak for themselves:

❚ In 1961, 95 per cent children were born into a traditional family with married parents.

❚ By 2015, only 53 per cent were brought into the world by married parents.

❚ A child who grows up without a father is five times more likely to commit crime.

❚ More children are abused in de-factotype households, and an abused child is

20 times more likely to end up in prison. For Ma¯ ori the figures are worse:

❚ In 1968, 72 per cent of Ma¯ ori children were born to married parents.

❚ By 2015, only 21 per cent were born to married parents.

The mantra ‘‘all forms of family/ wha¯ nau are equal’’ is clearly nonsense, and the statistics prove that to be so.

The evidence is clear that a child needs a father who wants and loves them. This is the best way to raise a child to become a law-abiding contributing member of society.

Mr Little’s justice summit won’t dare say anything like that. They fear they might offend the Left-wing liberals who have been at the forefront of breaking down the family unit, who would rather focus on the problem of prison numbers than face the reality of what their social ideology has created.