There was a telling comment buried at the end of TV3's story tonight on Chief Justice Sian Elias' speech on the failure of "tough on crime" policies. At the end of the video version, Scott Campbell says:
I also spoke to several sources in both the major political parties about these ideas, and many of them say that they have merit, although they won't say so publicly. To admit that giving prisoners lighter sentences or some amnesty would be political suicide.That's right: the politicians know these policies don't work, but they continue to publicly support them out of fear of being called "soft". And so we continue down a futile path to expensive failure.
