The outgoing Parole Board chair says shorter prison sentences don’t work because it exposes offenders to “a university of crime” without sufficient rehabilitation.
Sir Ron Young is retiring after nearly seven years in the role. He told Q+A for people who had prison sentences shorter than two to three years, the reoffending rate is about 40%.
For people who had spent more than eight years in prison, that dropped to about 10% after rehabilitation and reintegration programmes, he said.
“What it suggests to me that for those under two years, whom we [the Parole Board] don’t see at all, is there has to be a rethink whether or not those sentences are appropriate.”
Sir Ron said, for those with shorter sentences, they spend most of their time in custody being “educated in the way of crime”.
“It’s kind of like a university of crime. Unless we do something about that, those are the future offenders.”
Additionally, the Department of Corrections wasn’t adequately resourced to deliver rehabilitation and reintegration programmes, Sir Ron said.
He said alternatives to short prison sentences could include a Scandinavian-style model that placed offenders within a controlled environment in the community.
He acknowledged that would be “a super hard sell” to victims of crime.
“The way in which it can be solved, because these are the facts, is we want to do everything to make sure there are no more victims.”
Q+A with Jack Tame is made with the support of NZ on Air.
