Crime in New Zealand
Encyclopedia
Crime in New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
is of strong interest to the public due to concerns for personal safety and security of property. The media regularly reports only certain types of crimes and this may give a skewed perception to the public.
History
- Criminal Code, 1893
- Crimes Act 1961Crimes Act 1961The Crimes Act 1961 is an Act of the Parliament of New Zealand administered by the Ministry of Justice.-Amendments:The Homosexual Law Reform Act 1986 amended the Crimes Act, allowing for consensual homosexual relationships between men....
In July 2009 Sian Elias
Sian Elias
Dame Sian Seerpoohi Elias, GNZM, PC, QC is the Chief Justice of New Zealand, and is therefore the most senior member of the country's judiciary. She is the presiding judge of the Supreme Court of New Zealand...
, the Chief Justice
Chief Justice of New Zealand
The Chief Justice of New Zealand is the head of the New Zealand judiciary, and presides over the Supreme Court of New Zealand. Before the establishment of the latter court in 2004 the Chief Justice was the presiding judge in the High Court of New Zealand and was also ex officio a member of the...
defied convention and caused controversy with her speech for the annual Shirley Smith address to the Wellington District Law Society, arguing against what she described as the "punitive and knee-jerk" attitude towards the criminal justice system. In response, Minister of Justice Simon Power
Simon Power
Simon James Power is a New Zealand politician. He is a prominent member of the National Party and a cabinet minister. He currently holds the posts of Minister of Justice, Minister for State Owned Enterprises, Minister of Commerce, Minister Responsible for the Law Commission andAssociate Minister...
said "The Government is elected to set sentencing policy. Judges are appointed to apply it." Sensible Sentencing Trust
Sensible Sentencing Trust
The Sensible Sentencing Trust, a lobby group based in Napier in New Zealand, promotes harsher court sentences as a means of reducing crime.The Trust states its vision as "A Safe New Zealand" and its mission as "o obtain a large base of community support, and ensure safety for all New Zealanders...
's Garth McVicar stated Elias should resign because of her stance but academics and lawyers lent support to the points raised in her speech.
Crime statistics
According to the 2009 Corruption Perceptions Index by Transparency International, New Zealand is the least corrupt nation in the world.Law enforcement
- Crimes Act 1961Crimes Act 1961The Crimes Act 1961 is an Act of the Parliament of New Zealand administered by the Ministry of Justice.-Amendments:The Homosexual Law Reform Act 1986 amended the Crimes Act, allowing for consensual homosexual relationships between men....
- Crimes (Repeal of Seditious Offences) Amendment Act 2007Crimes (Repeal of Seditious Offences) Amendment Act 2007The Crimes Amendment Act 2007 is an Act of Parliament passed in New Zealand in 2007. It removed the crime of sedition from the New Zealand statute book.-Background:...
- Summary Offences Act 1981
- Land Transport Act 1998
- Misuse of Drugs Act 1975
Police force
The New Zealand Police is the national police force of New Zealand, responsible for enforcing criminal and traffic law, enhancing public safety, maintaining order and keeping the peace throughout New Zealand.Notable criminals
Some of the notable criminals in New Zealand include:- Minnie DeanMinnie DeanWilliamina "Minnie" Dean was a New Zealander who was found guilty of infanticide and hanged. She was the only woman to receive the death penalty in New Zealand....
, found guilty of infanticide and was the only woman to be hanged in New Zealand - Peter Hugh McGregor EllisPeter Hugh McGregor EllisPeter Hugh McGregor Ellis is a former Christchurch child care worker who has been at the centre of one of New Zealand's most enduring judicial controversies. In June 1993 Ellis was found guilty in the High Court on 16 counts of sexual offences involving children in his care at the Christchurch...
- Stanley GrahamStanley GrahamEric Stanley George Graham was a New Zealand mass murderer who killed seven people.-Early life:Graham was born and raised in Longford, Kokatahi, New Zealand. He then moved to Kowhitirangi, an agricultural district 12 miles from Hokitika in the South Island where he worked as a farmer and where he...
- David GrayAramoana massacreThe Aramoana massacre was a mass murder that occurred on 13 November 1990 in the small seaside township of Aramoana, New Zealand. Resident David Gray, a 33-year-old unemployed man, began indiscriminately shooting people in the township with a scoped semi-automatic rifle, after a verbal dispute with...
, responsible for the Aramoana massacreAramoana massacreThe Aramoana massacre was a mass murder that occurred on 13 November 1990 in the small seaside township of Aramoana, New Zealand. Resident David Gray, a 33-year-old unemployed man, began indiscriminately shooting people in the township with a scoped semi-automatic rifle, after a verbal dispute with... - Jules Mikus
- Hamiora PereHamiora PereHamiora Pere was the only New Zealander ever to be executed for treason.- Background :Pere was a participant in the Te Kooti's War, one of the New Zealand land wars. When Te Kooti's forces were defeated at the siege of Ngatapa, in 1869, around 270 people were taken prisoner. Most were executed,...
, the only New Zealander ever to be executed for treason - Bert Potter, the former spiritual leader of the CentrepointCentrepoint (commune)Centrepoint was a commune in Albany, New Zealand, created in 1977 by Herbert Thomas Potter and 36 others. At its largest, the commune, created in the model of the therapeutic encounter groups popularised in the 1960s in California, was home to over 200 people.On Anzac Day 1990, Potter was...
commune - Scott WatsonScott WatsonScott Watson is a New Zealander who was convicted in May 1999 after an 11-week trial of the murders of Ben Smart and Olivia Hope on his boat Blade on 1 January 1998.The bodies of Smart and Hope have never been found...
- Simon Allan Kerr, career criminal, and leader of 1980's infamous "Hole in the wall gang"
- Marty JohnstoneMarty JohnstoneChristopher Martin "Marty" Johnstone was a New Zealand drug trafficker. The former Takapuna Grammar pupil was dubbed "Mr Asia" by the Auckland Star newspaper in August 1978 in a series of articles by Pat Booth.-Murder:...
, Mr. Asia
Notable crimes
- The Völkner IncidentVolkner IncidentThe Völkner Incident describes the murder of the missionary Carl Sylvius Völkner in New Zealand in 1865 and the consequent reaction of the Government of New Zealand in the midst of the New Zealand land wars.-Background:...
(1865) - The Maungatapu murdersMaungatapu murdersThe Maungatapu murders were the events surrounding the murders of five people on the Maungatapu track in two separate attacks, near Nelson, New Zealand which occurred on 12 and 13 June 1866...
(1866) - The Parker–Hulme murder (1954)
- The Bassett Road machine gun murdersBassett Road machine gun murdersThe Bassett Road machine gun murders were the murders of two men with a .45 calibre Reising submachine gun on 7 December 1963, at 115 Bassett Road, in the Auckland suburb of Remuera in New Zealand. The crime received considerable media attention and captured the public imagination for many years...
(1963) - The Harvey and Jeanette CreweHarvey and Jeanette CreweDavid Harvey Crewe , known as Harvey, and Jeannette Lenore Crewe were a New Zealand farming couple who died in a double murder, or possibly a murder–suicide, around 17 June 1970...
murders (1970) - The case involving the rape of Louise NicholasLouise NicholasLouise Nicholas is a New Zealand woman who alleged that several policemen raped her and obstructed evidence in the subsequent trials for rape.-Original accusations:...
(crime in 1984, case heard in 2006) - Murder of Urban Höglin and Heidi PaakkonenMurder of Urban Höglin and Heidi PaakkonenSwedish tourists Sven Urban Höglin, 23, and his fiancée Heidi Birgitta Paakkonen, 21, disappeared while tramping on the Coromandel Peninsula of New Zealand in 1989. Police, residents, and military personnel conducted the largest land-based search undertaken in New Zealand, attempting to find the...
(1989) - Aramoana massacreAramoana massacreThe Aramoana massacre was a mass murder that occurred on 13 November 1990 in the small seaside township of Aramoana, New Zealand. Resident David Gray, a 33-year-old unemployed man, began indiscriminately shooting people in the township with a scoped semi-automatic rifle, after a verbal dispute with...
(1990) - The Bain family murders, of which David BainDavid BainDavid Cullen Bain is a New Zealander who featured in one of the country's most notable murder cases. He was convicted in May 1995 of the murders of his parents and siblings in Dunedin on 20 June 1994...
was initially accused (1995) - The murders of Ben Smart and Olivia Hope (1997/98)
- Chris and Cru Kahui murders (2006)
- Murder of Liam AshleyMurder of Liam AshleyOn 24 August 2006, George Charlie Baker, a prisoner from North Shore City, Auckland, fatally injured Liam Ashley, a 17-year old from North Shore in a New Zealand prison van...
(2006) - Wainuiomata Mākutu LiftingWainuiomata Mākutu LiftingDuring an October 2007 mākutu lifting in the Wellington, New Zealand suburb of Wainuiomata, 22-year-old Janet Moses died and a 14-year-old female relation was injured...
(2007) - Nia Glassie abuse caseNia Glassie abuse caseThe Nia Glassie abuse case was a high-profile criminal investigation and subsequent murder trial concerning the abuse and death of a 3-year old girl in Rotorua, New Zealand....
(2007) - Murder of Sophie Elliott (2008)
- Murder of Mallory ManningMurder of Mallory ManningNgatai Lynette Manning was murdered in Christchurch, New Zealand on 18 December 2008. It remains unsolved. Manning was picked up from her inner city, Manchester Street corner that she worked on as a prostitute, was taken to a property in Avonside and brutally killed by stabbing, strangling and...
(2008)
Terrorism
Terrorism in New Zealand is relatively uncommon, although a small number of cases exist.Crime related organisations
- Howard League for Penal Reform CanterburyHoward League for Penal Reform CanterburyThe Howard League for Penal Reform Canterbury is an organisation based in Christchurch, New Zealand that lobbies for prison reform. It is based on the British Howard League for Penal Reform....
- Sensible Sentencing TrustSensible Sentencing TrustThe Sensible Sentencing Trust, a lobby group based in Napier in New Zealand, promotes harsher court sentences as a means of reducing crime.The Trust states its vision as "A Safe New Zealand" and its mission as "o obtain a large base of community support, and ensure safety for all New Zealanders...
- Neighbourhood SupportNeighbourhood SupportNeighbourhood Support is a term used, predominantly in New Zealand, to refer to schemes similar in intent to "Neighbourhood Watch", with some additional objectives....
See also
- Corruption in New ZealandCorruption in New ZealandNew Zealand has a low level of corruption and has been consistently ranked as one of the least corrupt countries in the Corruption Perception Index. However, about four percent of New Zealanders have admitted to paying a bribe....
- Gangs in New ZealandGangs in New ZealandThere are numerous gangs in New Zealand, of varying criminality, organisation and ethnicity. According to the New Zealand Police, the three most prominent New Zealand gangs are Black Power ; the Mongrel Mob, and the Nomads...
- List of correctional facilities in New Zealand
- List of countries by incarceration rate
External links
- New Zealand Police
- Statistics New Zealand – Crime in New Zealand page
- New Zealand Criminal Markets