Let's Change the Crime and Justice Landscape

The New Zealand Justice System is at the crossroads. There is growing public realisation that prisons do not reduce criminal offending, and that we need alternatives to imprisonment, without compromising public safety.

There is a policy gap that needs filling. Community groups and politicians are grappling with this gap by proposing an array of programs and services that they believe will make a difference. Some of the proposed programs are supported by research, others are not.
 

It's time for long-range thinking.

• What should our justice and penal policy look like, beyond the current “Effective Interventions” policy?

• Where does the future lie for restorative justice, prisoner reintegration and the role of faith in reducing reoffending?

• What sorts of strategies will reduce gang warfare and youth offending?

• What is the role of civil society and community organisations in the criminal justice sector?

Prison Fellowship gathered together independent, authoritative voices who can call on national and international experience to flesh out the public discussion, and provide “bread for the journey”. There was ample opportunity for participant discussion and dialogue.

Those who have attended the Conferences in 2006 and 2007, consider they were the most significant Crime and Justice Conferences to be held in the last twenty years.

Our 25th Anniversary Conference was no exception.

Speakers included:

• Baroness Vivien Stern, Convenor, Scottish Consortium on Crime and Justice

• Ron Nikkel, President, Prison Fellowship International

• Professor Andrew Coyle, Professor of Prison Studies, Kings College

• Andrew Becroft, Principal Youth Court Judge

• Jeremy Wood, Director, Crime Prevention Unit

• Justice Taihakurei (Eddie) Durie

• Barry Matthews, CEO, Department of Corrections

• Nandor Tanczos, MP

• Kim Workman, National Director Prison Fellowship NZ

• Simon Power, Opposition spokesman for Justice

• Associate Professor Jim Tully Head of the School of Political Science and Communication, University of Canterbury

Was held;

16 - 18 May 2008

Silverstream Retreat

Upper Hutt

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Transcripts of addresses by keynote speakers Professor Andrew Coyle and Baroness Vivien Stern from the PFNZ Conference 2008