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Victim Support workers told to ignore political comments

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Sun, 18 Oct 2009 4:41p.m.

Police Minister Judith Collins

Police Minister Judith Collins

Volunteers at a Victim Support conference this weekend were urged to ignore the "victims versus offenders" debate from politicians.

Police Minister Judith Collins said in her opening comments at the Sensible Sentencing Trust conference last month, that some people would rather "put the rights of criminals before the safety of the police and public".

Director of Rethinking Crime and Punishment Kim Workman said this kind of "oppositional thinking" was counterproductive and unhelpful.

"We must reject any proposition that potentially divides us.

"Many of you work with both victims and offenders, in the areas of family violence, child abuse, restorative justice, and prisoner reintegration.

"Our success depends on our ability to work effectively within the justice system, across the board, in order to reduce victimisation."

The volunteers should take lead from the late Sir Howard Morrison who was a patron of Victim Support, he said.

Sir Howard refused to be judged over who he should help.

"He was available to all; victims, offenders, youth at risk and those with mental health and drug problems."

There was a belief that those who worked with offenders condoned their criminal activity, or had an investment in the status quo. Mr Workman said.

Claims that the justice system was preoccupied with offender's rights were not true, he said.

"I cannot find any evidence over the last 20 years, of any policy or piece of legislation that has promoted offenders' rights - quite the opposite.

"I can only conclude that this piece of fiction was intended to cover up the fact that until recently, victims rights were largely ignored."

NZPA
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Comments

03 Feb 2010 05:58a.m.

Kristinka wrote:

[url=http://zexeor.com/]Kristinka[/url] What a pity a victim representative had not been asked to address the victim support volunteers.

28 Nov 2009 10:46p.m.

John wrote:

There are 15 comments on this story - 14 of them attacking Kim Workman. 14 people attacking 1 is a form of victimisation - something one would assume that supporters of the SST might know something about.....! But apparently not.

28 Oct 2009 03:35p.m.

Harry Young wrote:

Mr Workman is a religious fundamentalist who failed to reduce the rate of re-offending when that was his job.
Why would anyone listen to him?
There is a huge chasm between offender and victim. One choses to impose violence or crime on another - the other suffers it.
Victim Support exists to help victims. There would be a lot less victims if the likes of Mr Workman kept out of the debate and we simply locked up offenders until they were no longer a threat. Then others would see the consequences and not follow them into crime and the criminal would not be in society influencng others and breeding a new generation of criminal.
So after an initial spike, the prison population would decline and life for the law abiding person would be massively improved.
Prison should serve two primary functions 1. to punish 2. to keep criminals out of the way. Reform comes in a poor third, because generally it is a waste of time and money, limited by whether criminals want to reform.

21 Oct 2009 10:46p.m.

brian w brown wrote:

are you thick or something, why on earth would i be at all interested in reading your purile shit.i think we have got the message loud and clear where you are coming from and i for one am sick to the back teeth of your ramblings.why dont you just do us law abiding folk a favour and direct your thoughts to those in the community who are causing all the mayhem.its dopey academics like yourself who have made all sorts of excuses for the crims as to why they are the way they are when all thats needed is a good dose of accountability.show any sort of kindness to the career criminal and he looks apon it as a weakness and goes for the jugular.if you want any further proof put a few of them up for the night when they get out of the slammer. not the ones you choose the ones i choose.whats your address??

21 Oct 2009 12:37p.m.

Kim Workman wrote:

My full speech to the Victim Support Conference will be available on Rethinking Crime and Punishment's latest newsletter, at www.rethinking.org.nz this Friday.

Regards

20 Oct 2009 12:49p.m.

brian w brown wrote:

ya gotta be kidding me, it cant have been the same kim workman director of the "what the hell am i thinking of" crime and punishment division surely.what next sir douglas myers addressing the national society of alcoholics anonymous or taggers speaking at the annual spray painters conference.

20 Oct 2009 11:46a.m.

Mike Jacobs wrote:

Mr Workman, When will you wake up to reality. N.Z is already divided, we have the lawabiding and the lawless. The former needs protection from the latter. The continued WATERING DOWN OF SENTENCING, fails to provide this. You say no piece of LEGISLAION has aided offenders, there are too many to mention here. The Right to PAROLE, if a offender pleads guilty he gets a credit of 2yrs. Those are just two
for someone who supposedly works in the Justice System ican only come to conclusion you have a very conveniant memory.

20 Oct 2009 12:54a.m.

Rachael F wrote:

Wake up Workman and your backers in Govt. This isn't America where offenders are on death row and actually need your kind of help, and it is not always appropriate to "include" consideration of offenders. Their interests have conflicted often with NZ victims ones and the framework ensures they get the red carpet eg compo if media hurts their feelings by calling spades spades. Ironic that despite most victims rights advances being the fruit of SST victims United, as aided by the McVicars the victim aid deal was announced at victim support conference. It risks alienating future victims from using its services in hosting this calibre of speaker. Time and again victims suffer furtherand are created due to extraordinary rights granted offenders the last 20 years. It dates to an agreement the Waitangi Commission made to ease up on sentences if Maori undertook not to pursue legal sovereignty ie separate justice. Just last week I reported threats emanating from a jailed murder to kill again but the prison refused to discuss it due to prisoner privacy and hung up. The National Office said the intending killer could be offered one session of counselling but could not be compelled. Release is automatic regardless if they threaten to kill again apparently.

19 Oct 2009 10:37p.m.

Judy Ashton wrote:

Just over a month ago Tony Paine, CEO of Victim Support addressed the annual SST Victims conference. He invited feedback from the victims, the list was cut short because “time did not permit”. What a pity a victim representative had not been asked to address the victim support volunteers. Sharing victims experience’s could have been positive and enlightening giving the volunteers something tangible to feast upon to better equip them as they continue with the wonderful work that they do. It was fitting for the Hnr Simon Powers to introduce at the conference the new initiatives to help victims of crime. It was not fitting for Mr Workman to be invited. He is renown for his ill informed and critical statements not only about the SST but also to victims . He infers that victims are manipulated to seek nothing but revenge. Mr Workman is obviously very ignorant of a victims needs and what motivates us to stand up and say no more rights for the offender. I believe that when an offender has been convicted of taking the life of another that offender should be denied all rights until he has served his full judge given sentence. I would suggest that Mr Workman’s mutinous comments such as urging the volunteers to ignore the “victims versus offenders” debate from politicians and that the kind of comments made by Police Minister Judith Collins were “oppositional thinking” are in themselves “counterproductive and unhelpful.” I would also suggest that Mr Workman looks within his own organisation to identify “oppositional thinking” which is counterproductive and unhelpful in rehabilitating his clients so that next year at our annual victims conference and the roll is called there will be no new victim who have had their lives taken by recidivist offenders or the offender with a history of crime and violence who has recently been released from prison “rehabilitated”.

19 Oct 2009 08:44p.m.

Kelly Te Heuheu wrote:

Its sad to see such embarassing behaviour from Kim Workman highjacking victims support conference. This is a sign of desperation to get his bias views out to the nation when he knows the National Party has in place support plans for victims in future. And how dare he use Sir Howard Morrisons name to create a storm of protest!!!