Given this, provided the select committee does a good job on assessing submission and making recommendations and parliament carefully considers these we have the potential to finally have much tougher sentences on recidivist offenders of heinous and violent crimes. Regular readers will remember that, as documented in The Deal is Signed: New Zealand Has a New Government, part of the confidence and supply agreement that the National Party made with the ACT Party back in November 08 following New Zealand’s last general election was that National agree to introduce ACT’s “Three Strikes Bill” and support it to Select Committee, so this news was fairly inevitable.

RELATED POSTS:
Three Strikes: Proportion and Protection
Published – Three Strikes: Proportion and Protection
The Deal is Signed: New Zealand Has a New Government

In it I argue that the objections to the The Sentencing and Parole Reform Bill (a.k.a the “Three Strikes Bill”) on the basis that it affronts the proportionality doctrine, which stems from the Bill of Rights, is flawed. I argue that criticisms of the Bill along these lines confuse appropriate force for punishment with defensive force.

UPDATE:
Not to be outdone, Matt just came in from the supermarket with the October edition of Investigate Magazine, which of course, features his regular Contra Mundum article – this month entitled, “God, Proof and Faith” complete with pullquote “the sceptic’s position eats its own tail … [it] is incoherent” and photo of Richard Dawkins labeled “delusional?” (you gotta love editor Ian Wishart). We’ll have a full copy of this article available on this blog at the end of the month; the editor prefers us to penalise those of you who don’t buy his magazine by making you wait.