New data released today shows the Government is tracking ahead of its violent crime reduction target, with 28,000 fewer victims of crime recorded for the year to February.
In March last year, the Government announced nine targets which included ensuring there were 20,000 fewer victims of serious violent crime by 2029, equating to 165,000 victims, said Justice Minister, Paul Goldsmith.
“The latest New Zealand Crime and Victims Survey shows that for the year to February, there were 157,000 victims of violent crime. This is 28,000 fewer victims than the baseline set in October 2023,” said the Minister.
“This is very encouraging and shows our work to restore law and order is paying off.
“We’ve provided police and the courts with extra tools to go after gangs, brought back a revised three strikes sentencing regime, restored real consequences for crime by limiting sentence discounts, and scrapped Section 27 reports.”
Police Minister, Mark Mitchell said that while there was a lot more work to do, the results were a good early sign that we are heading in the right direction.
“I want to acknowledge and thank our Police Commissioner and Corrections Chief Executive, our entire Police and Corrections teams both sworn and non-sworn who are working hard with their Justice sector colleagues to implement the Government’s policies and direction on public safety. I am very proud of the work they are doing every day to make our country safer,” Mr Mitchell said.
“There were 12,000 fewer victims in Auckland and 5,000 fewer in Canterbury, which is credit to them all.”
The latest quarterly results for all Government targets will be released in early June.
