Roger Brooking

Roger Brooking as a Wellington alcohol and drug counsellor. He's the author of 'Flying Blind- how the justice system perpetuates crime and the corrections Department fails to correct' and blogs about crime, justice and prison issues at Brookingblog.com.

Society
Feb 18, 2019

More people are killed by drink drivers under the limit than over it

In 2018, it was reported everywhere that deaths caused by drugged driving had overtaken the drink driving toll for the first time. As Roger Brooking writes, that was fake news. 

Read on.

Society
Nov 30, 2018

Would sending repeat drunk driver Gavin Hawthorn to prison really make us safer?

The news that the recidivist drunk driver will not be jailed for his latest offence has prompted an outcry. But prison clearly isn't working, writes Roger Brooking. Isn't it time we tried something new?

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Politics
Nov 2, 2018

Kelvin Davis has a cunning plan to cut the prison population – and it's working

For 15 years justice advocate Roger Brooking has been campaigning for prison reform with an increasing sense of despair. Now, for the first time, he sees reasons to be hopeful.

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Society
Mar 13, 2018

How to cut the prison population by 50% in five years

The government is about to make a final decision on a 1500-bed expansion of Waikeria Prison. Anti-expansion campaigner Roger Brooking explains why building more and larger prisons is exactly the wrong solution to our incarceration epidemic.

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Society
Mar 27, 2017

NZers are being tortured and we don’t care – because they’re prisoners, and prisoners aren’t really human

After a brief flurry of media interest, the revelation that prisoners had been tied to their beds for up to 16 hours a day has quickly faded from the public consciousness. But that's par for the course when prison inmates are routinely dehumanised, says Roger Brooking.

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Society
Feb 16, 2017

Substance abuse affects 90% of prison inmates. Why are they being fobbed off with unqualified addiction counsellors?

Addressing addiction issues in prison is one of the best ways we have to drastically cut reoffending rates. If only Corrections took the problem as seriously as it deserves, writes Wellington addiction counsellor Roger Brooking.

Read on.

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