Source: Amnesty International Aotearoa New Zealand
The below statements can be attributed to Lisa Woods, Campaigns Director at Amnesty International Aotearoa New Zealand. This follows the release of data on retail crime on Sunday.
“We are deeply concerned by tough on crime narratives and policies that fail to address the root causes of harmful behaviour. There is a wealth of evidence which shows that punitive approaches to youth crime do not work to reduce offending.
“As a society, we need upstream interventions to address the causes of crime, rather than downstream interventions which may fail to address the underlying issues. We need to see policies that get to the heart of the issues behind harmful behaviour with an evidence-based, holistic approach. Every approach to reduce offending must be grounded in international human rights standards.”
