Friday 22nd Oct 1999

LabourÆs Law and Order bribe not worth accepting

ACTÆs Rongotai candidate Stephen Franks said today ô Victims should be outraged by LabourÆs pretence of concern.ö

ô A VictimÆs greatest right is justice. Justice means criminals suffering no less than the victim. Not counsellors, not reparation promises, which will not be kept.ö

ô Labour offers ô consultationö about name suppression. What about real influence consultation on sentence and on parole û things that matter when sentences are so clearly inadequate anyway.ö

Labour will ô beef up court securityö so victims can testify without fear of intimidation. ACT says this is another example of feel good slogan law. The real intimidation happens outside the court afterwards or before a hearing. A serious policy for intimidation would ensure intimidators were punished so soon and so hard that it is not worth thinking about.

ôLabour staunch attitude to bail offenders is sickening, They say they want to ô get the hard core repeat offender off the streetö then look only at bail. Bail is only while awaiting trial. Police and victims are frustrated about pathetic sentencing,, jail escapes and early parole. What about keeping offenders in prison after conviction?ö said ACTÆs Rongotai candidate Stephen Franks.

ENDS

Labour too Soft on Justice- ACT

Friday 22nd Oct 1999

Labour too Soft on Justice- ACT

ACT Leader Hon Richard Prebble said today ôhe was disappointed that Labour will not support a truth in sentencing law.

Labour has acknowledged that ACT is the only party that is prepared to really get tough on crime.ö

ENDS

© Scoop Media

Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>