richardwestenra.com - Latest Comments

Re: Great Winter Roadtrip – Highlights from the 2009 Season

haydenb — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 14:04:42 -0000

Awesome stuff man, can't wait to hit the clubbies when i'm back in NZ. It's a crime I haven't been to any of them (apart from Porter's which doesn't even count) yet.

Re: Photos from my recent trips to space

Ezra — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 22:12:44 -0000

what a guy!

Re: Will the Three Strikes policy work?

Richard Westenra — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 15:46:05 -0000

Gidday Philippa.
You're right that crime is always going to exist in some form, as long as humans brains continue to function as they do now. We can try to minimise crime and its effects, but it's here to stay.

Whilst the studies cited above showed that reducing prison reduces crime, I don't believe that those figures would hold steady if we continued to reduce prison time to zero. There must be an optimum point somewhere. Also, the Canadian study showed that in a comparison between 'serving a prison sentence vs. receiving a community-based sanction', the latter tended to fare better.

I feel that the best solution would be to somehow attempt to differentiate between those offenders capable of reform and reintegration into society, and those who are wholly incapable of rehabilitation, such as psychopaths and pedophiles. For the former case, we ought to put them into some kind of 'community-based' and rehabilitation-focussed programme, with an eye towards turning them into productive and non-violent members of society. (I think that even though victims may be angry with this plan, their desire for harsh punishment should not enter into the equation. I fail to see how the punishment can be worth it if it leads to future violence and more victims.)

For those individuals who have been shown by court psychiatrists to be incapable of rehabilitation, and whose re-offending will be more costly to the community than the $100,000 a year it will cost to imprison them, I recommend something akin to permanent imprisonment in a mental health facility. Such facilities would probably appear similar to prisons in many respects, but their main purpose would not be punishment or rehabilitation, but simply to isolate dangerous individuals from the rest of society to ensure that they never offend again. Under such a plan there would be no need for an 'insanity plea' in criminal cases, because there would no longer be any distinction between 'guilty' and 'mentally unsound'.

My plan is based on the somewhat consequentialist idea that the only relevant aspect to this debate is the amount of suffering caused to victims of violent crime. If we lower the crime rate then we lower the number of victims, period. Making previous victims feel better by satisfying their desire for revenge can be good, but not if it increases the number of future victims.

Re: Will the Three Strikes policy work?

philippa johnson — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 19:51:36 -0000

Hey Richard, I liked your blog and I agree with what you argue. I got to it by reading the comments you'd written on Josh Collins' fb link to the stuff article. The other guy who was commenting (Dan Bason) writes: "Punishing criminals is as important as reducing crime." (with which I don't agree) and "What do you propose, we give murderers a slap on the hand?"
What do you propose? I mean I'm all for working to fix the underlying causes that lead to crime in the first place, but also I'm aware that this is not going to stop crime, it will always exist where there is dissent, and we don't live in utopia; dissent is part of life. So what do you propose for the violent criminals who will still be there even if crime rates are reduced by fixing the underlying causes? They serve their sentences, which does not deter them from re-offending (and as you point out, fosters the criminal mentality making them "better" criminals) once they're released.

Re: Photos from my recent trips to space

Tony Robbins — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 15:24:22 -0000

I see you have been the first to try out Nasas brand new space breathing gear...
The chin beard 4000.

Shave below AND above to achieve optimal oxygen intake

Re: Photos from my recent trips to space

Richard Westenra — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 06:52:03 -0000

THIS LOOKS SHOPPED.
I CAN TELL FROM SOME OF THE PIXELS AND FROM SEEING QUITE A FEW SHOPS IN MY TIME.

Re: Great Winter Roadtrip Part Five – September

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 04:41:07 -0000

A great read .........finally know what you were up to when we were sailing the Greek Isles and you were skiing on the otherside of the world . Thanks for sharing