Simon Power MP
National Party Justice & Corrections Spokesman

26 August 2008

Labour’s Crime Reduction Strategy a sham

The Labour Government’s so-called Crime Reduction Strategy has been a total waste of time, says National’s Justice & Corrections spokesman, Simon Power.

“It’s time to end the pretence – this strategy is a sham.

“It’s been a total waste of time because Labour has not put it into action.

“It was meant to act as an umbrella strategy for seven priority areas, including family violence and youth offending, but though Labour said they were working on it, they weren’t.”

A report into the strategy by an independent consultant from the UK, Dr Sohail Husain, finds that:
• The concept of the strategy providing an overarching framework ‘was never properly developed’.
• Governance arrangements based on Ministerial and senior officials’ groups lapsed in 2003.
• A work programme ‘was never defined’.
• Targets and accountabilities ‘were never agreed’.

Dr Husain’s most telling comment is: “It is difficult to find evidence of its impact as ‘an overarching framework which ensures that … strategies align and work collectively (and efficiently) to achieve crime reduction’”.

“Labour gave it this grand name to make it sound like they were doing something, when they were actually doing nothing.

“For the past two elections they promised to use the strategy to tackle crime at its roots. They said they would:

• Be ‘implementing our Crime Prevention Strategy, which recognises and tackles the root causes of crime’ (2002 election manifesto).
• ‘…continue to implement, review and improve crime prevention activities and initiatives flowing from the Crime Prevention Strategy’.

“It’s clear from this report that Labour has failed to put this strategy into practice.

“It’s time they concentrated on ideas that work.”

ENDS

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