A seismic shift of national thinking is urgently needed on
violent crime in New Zealand.
Much violence is committed by people drinking heavily and not
thinking properly.
The “Alcohol Causes Violence” Conference to be held at Te
Papa, Wellington on 23 March will look at a different
approach to reducing violent crime.
This historic conference is hosted by the University of
Otago, Wellington School of Medicine. It brings together two
main streams of people; those who are concerned about law and
order, and those who are concerned about public health.
Speakers from the "work face" include NZ Police Commissioner
Howard Broad and Principal Youth Court Judge Andrew Becroft,
as well as Professor Kathryn Graham from the Centre for
Addiction and Mental Health, University of Western Ontario
and New Zealander Jennie Connor from the Department of
Preventive and Social Medicine, University of Otago.
While increasing the length of prison terms may make us all
feel better, there is very
little evidence that this will have any impact on deterring
violence in our society. However, there is an increasing body
of research showing that alcohol can directly cause
aggression in people.
The Conference will be video streamed to 15 different venues
throughout New Zealand including Dunedin and Timaru.
About Alcohol Action NZ:
Alcohol Action was formed to promote the adoption of
evidence-based policies for the reduction of alcohol-related
harm in New Zealand. Alcohol Action NZ developed the 5+
solution to promote safer and healthy alcohol
consumption.
The 5+ Solution:
1. Raise alcohol prices.
2. Raise the purchase age
3. Reduce alcohol accessibility
4. Reduce marketing and advertising
5. Increase drink-driving countermeasures
6. PLUS: Increase treatment opportunities for heavy drinkers
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