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Archived Press Releases 2003 January 26th

Call for Parole to be abolished

(26th January 2003)

The Government should immediately abolish parole after recent mistakes by the Parole Board and the re-offending by those released on parole, said the National Spokesperson for the Sensible Sentencing Trust.

Yet again we see the new parole act simply being used as a tool to unload Prisons and place potentially dangerous offenders back on the streets, the most recent being the case of a killer who by some unexplained slip up was allowed to live next door to the sister of the man she helped kill.

Renee Rooney was one of two people convicted of Manslaughter for deliberately setting fire to a house in Kawerau, two occupants died in the inferno that followed. Rooney was released under the new 2002 Parole Act; she had served a mere two and a bit years of her six year sentence.

The conviction for manslaughter for a deliberate act was bad enough, but now the victims' family must face this added insult as our Justice system lets them down yet again.

How many more innocent people must be hurt before the Government will take action?

While our Politicians dither and hide behind privacy acts, violent crime in this country is escalating at alarming rates.

Sensible Sentencing Trust is calling on the Government to immediately abolish parole until an inquiry can be held to establish why mistakes like this are occurring and why so many offenders are re-offending while on parole.

Regards,

Garth McVicar
National Spokesperson,
Sensible Sentencing Trust.