Sensible Sentencing Trust
May 1 2008
Christchurch to get sensible sentencing
Press Release
Christchurch
invites the founder of the Sensible Sentencing Trust to speak at public meeting
on crime fighting initiatives.
Following the
recent murder of Marie Davis and the release of crime figures showing
Christchurch having the highest level of violent crime and second in the
country for total crimes a meeting is being organized to say we've had enough.
Garth McVicar who founded the Sensible Sentencing Trust in 2001
has been invited to be guest speaker.
McVicar is New Zealand's
most outspoken opponent to liberal crime polices and is a nemesis to those
promoting community sentences and restorative justice.
"My message
will be simple," said McVicar, "The current
warm-fuzzy social experiment that makes excuses for offenders has been a dismal
failure and we can't afford to tolerate this anymore".
"Most of the
heinous offences in Christchurch recently - including Charlene Makaza, Jane
Young, Hannah Rossiter and more recently Emma Agnew
and Marie Davis will have been committed by offenders with a previous violent
history."
"Prison keeps
the community safe from violent criminals and repeat offenders - the public
deserve to be protected from career criminals - they must be locked away to
ensure we can walk our streets without fear."
"We do not
want criminals on the street - end of story." McVicar
said.
The recent spate
of murders has shocked New Zealand and resulted in Christchurch MP Nicky Wagner
taking the lead and organizing the public meeting.
Nicky said after
hearing that a meeting organized by the Sensible Sentencing Trust in Taupo had attracted over 1000 people she decided to invite
Garth McVicar to Christchurch.
"Garth McVicar is passionate about Law & Order and so am I, he
has been touring the Country to motivate debate on escalating violent crime, I
decided to see if Christchurch is as motivated on this issue as Taupo."
"Garth is
saying stop the escalating violence and I agree with him, as I see it we have
two options, we roll over and wave a white flag and let the criminals rule or
we stand-up and reclaim our streets."
McVicar said that while
the police are doing a great job legislation that simply recycles violent
offenders means the Police are getting frustrated and morale is suffering - the
spin off of that of course is the public lose faith in the Justice System
itself - this will result in the public taking the law into their own hands,
and that will be a very sad day for New Zealand".
The meeting will
be held in the Christchurch Town Hall [Limes Room] at 7-30pm on 7th May and
opened by Mayor Bob Parker.
ends