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Reform group Rethinking Crime and Punishment is calling out the Sensible Sentencing Trust for not letting the facts stand in the way of its message.
Spokesperson Kim Workman says a recent Justice Ministry survey showed the majority of people think crime is going up, when research shows a significant drop.
He says fear of crime creates its own victims, as he found recently when visiting an old folks home soon after Sensible Sentencing had been through.
"They were so effective some of the old people were refusing to go to the local dairy to buy an ice cream because they though they would be robbed. When you start doing that stuff, you are creating victims through your propaganda. We need to quieten down, look at the information, and then start working to see what we can do to actually prevent crime," Mr Workman says.
He says Sensible Sentencing’s recipe of severe punishment and longer term of imprisonment will increase rather than reduce the number of offenders, and therefore the number of victims.
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