The objective of my blog is to discuss the Crime rate in NZ, Reasons and Preventation of the Crime.
Note: Please click on graphs to enlarge them.
About New Zealand: New Zealand or Aotearoa is a small country consists of two main Islands: North Island and South Island. The estimated population of New Zealand is 4,324,006. The country has mountains, volcanoes, parks, gardens, beaches and pollution free environment which makes it unique and one of the beautiful country in the world.
Crime: Any activity or act like manslaughter, rape, kidnapping, drink driving, burglary, homicide, Computer hack etc which is against the Law is called crime.
Crime in New Zealand: Crime is a concern to the public as it threats to their personal safety and property. The public perception about the crime is greatly affected by the media reports. The reports in media often mislead the public about the actual facts of Crime. The article “The problems with deficit approaches in the media reporting on youthJustice" defines how the media make their own stories on the death of Michael Choy and the death of Kenneth Piggott in New Zealand. The media report shows that the crime is increasing fast in New Zealand.
But the New Zealand Crime statistics report shows that the crime rate is dropping from the past decades. The recorded murders and serious offences in 2008 was 431,381 and recorded offences per 10,000 population was 1,010.6 which is less than the recorded offences in 1999 that was 438,074 and the recorded offences per 10,000 population was 1,142.3. It is also shown in Graph 1 that there is decrease in recorded offences per 10,000 populations from 1998-2007.
Graph-1 Recorded Offences by Police
Graph2 – Resolution Rate -percentage of recorded offences that were resolved
As per shown in Graph 2, the percentage of resolution rate of serious offences are increased in past ten decades. The police are effectively resolving the serious crime in NZ. The resolution rate of serious offence has gone from 71% to 80% and murder increase from 62% to 91%.
Graph -3 Prison sentences from 1980 -2007
The number of prisoners were increased from 1980-2007, which stabilize the serious offence rate, because more offenders being sent to prison drops the crime rate in NZ.
GLOBAL PEACE INDEX 2009 consider the New Zealand as the safest and peaceful country in the world. The top ranked GPI's are New Zealand, Denmark, Norway, Iceland and Austria. The lowest ranked countries are Israel, Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq.
In addition to that Julia Tolmie, co-editor of Criminal Justice in New Zealand and associate professor of law at The University of Auckland also states that the crime rate is decreasing over the last ten years, contrary to media reports.
In my opinion the crime is not increasing, it is stable in NZ. I think that is only the media reports which show the crime is increasing and becoming horrific. There is no country in the world that is free from the crime. NZ also have the crime but the country has effective strategies to deal with it. As per my references I mentioned the road crime, burglary, and cybercrime, use of fraudulent cards to obtain goods, rape and selling false Visa crime, but if you notice it is clearly stated in my all references that the police have resolved mostly all the crime cases.
As per one of my reference the police have arrested a 33 year-old man for the allegedly rape of a young woman in the “Parnell Rose Gardens” on 26th August 2001. The police had worked on this case until they had arrested the offender of the case in August 2006. The victim was very thankful to the police for the progress made into her case.
In short, the resolution rate is higher than the crime rate in New Zealand.
The main reasons of the crime are:
1. Poverty: The main reason of the crime is poverty. People who are poor and cannot afford food and living expenses often steal stuff to full fill their requirements.
2.Uneducation: The Uneducation is curse. Uneducated people can not get a good Job, so to satisfy their needs they often commit crime like robberies, burglaries, murder etc.
3. Mental Disability: People with mental retardation problems have less control on their activities. They can commit crime like murder, rape and suicide etc.
4. Media: Action movies and raping songs have the great influence on Youngsters. They follow the same pattern of movies and make their own gangs to commit crime to become famous and gangster.
5. Family Environment: The family environment has the great impact on children Character. The children who grow up in abusive environment and the parents do not teach them the expectations of social environment cannot become a good citizen of the country. These types of children do not have any aim in life, so they often starts commit crime.
6. Use of Alcohol and Drugs: The people who take excessive alcohol and drugs have no control on their brain. Alcohol also makes a person more aggressive and give a great courage to commit crime.
7. Availability of weapons: The criminal steal guns or buy illegal arms which help them to commit crime like robberies, burglary, murder etc. The mostly used weapon by criminals is knives, which are easily available in shops. Instead of all these anger, envy, desire to get luxury things also excite the person to commit crime.
Preventation of Crime: Crime Preventation means to reduce the Crime and discourage the criminals.
1. Government and even all of us tried to do the efforts like campaigns, free tuitions, and free schools so that we can teach people about the benefits of education. They can get good jobs and afford the stuff they like. That will decrease uneducation, unemployment and poverty.
2. If we know any person, who is mentally disabled that is our responsibility to refer him to the doctor.
3. I think the directors should also make good movies which encourage youngsters to do proper behave in community and work hard for their future. The directors can make movies on life and achievement of famous people like Thomas Edison, Christopher Columbus etc.
4. The maximum level of alcohol the person can drink in one day should be labeled on the bottle so that they cannot lose their brain control and commit crime.
5. Parents should treat their children with love. They should teach them the expectations of the social behavior, the benefits of education and risks of crime.
To avoid Cyber Crime parents should educate themselves with the latest technology so that they can teach their children about the advantages of technology in education and disadvantages if they misuse the online resources like use internet for information theft and financial fraud.
6. Government should pay more attention to people who sell illegal arms.
7. To reduce the car thefts, the people should use some safety rules . They should park their car safely. Close the doors and windows and lock the car properly. Never leave any items in car. Always use a steering wheel lock. Install the alarm in the car which can deter thieves to steal the car.
8. To prevent the home burglaries, always close and lock the windows properly. You can keep a dog to guard home while you are away and install security alarms and Cameras in house.
9. The school teachers should also teach the students about the risks of crime and how it affects their future and community.
