Local knowledge important for Judges

Stuff reports:

Two judges have taken remarkably different stances on a controversial drug rehabilitation programme, which targets gang members, who suffer addiction issues.

Earlier this month, two gang members, in two cities, came before two judges for meth-related offending. Both asked for sentencing discounts for attending a new drug rehabilitation programme, which is led by the Notorious Chaindog chapter of the Mongrel Mob. They received two very different reactions.

One believed the controversial gang-run rehab programme provided valuable treatment, and warranted a discounted sentence. The other said there was nothing to back up the efficacy of the programme, adding that the involvement of a group that was central to the country’s meth problem undermined the validity of the initiative.

Again the Mongrel Mob have it so good. They make money importing and selling meth. They make money running a course to “rehabilitate people” from meth and if any of their own members get caught, they go on the course which both generates more money for the mob, but also allows them to ask for a lighter sentence.

These cases, which played out in the High Court at Wellington and the Napier District Court, show the differences in how members of the judiciary view the Kahukura drug-rehab programme.

This is the key – one judge was local and knows how ridiculous it is to have the Mob both selling meth and running a rehab course for it, and one is in Wellington.