A fair bit has been said and written about the three strikes policy of ACT and the National Party. Of course it will frustrate judges, and endanger the lives of victims and make it even more difficult to mitigate the social cost or maximise any social benefit from rehabilitating offenders. So I won't rehash that lot. I have been given pause by thinking about domestic violence though. What does a beaten partner do when a conviction for assault will see their partner in prison for a minimum of 25 years? How on earth does that help that family get the help they need? What are the odds that it will simply stop the initial complaint to the police, making the whole situation inevitably worse.
Particularly ironic given that the vast majority of the increase in violent crime statistics has been due to victims of domestic violence actually reporting to the cops, and the cops actually having a policy of recording and doing something about it.
Meanwhile, Avatar is doing quite well.
Posted by carla at January 27, 2010 09:01 PM