Is the humble hooded sweatshirt responsible for NZ's serious crime problem?

Your Views often posits questions related to the findings of one study or another reported on by the Herald, taking advantage of the controversy that certain types of research can incite. “Is it best for fathers to stay away from the delivery room?” made for an amusing debate; with the suggestion of a French obstetrician that a father's presence at their baby's birth could be potentially harmful causing the users of Your Views to react with anger, confusion and as always, hilarity:

Retox (Forrest Hill)
Woman = hospital
Man = Pub
What happened to tradition? I say return to the good ol days. Call me a pig but hey, tradition is a great thing.

Other such research findings-based Your Views threads include “Are you thinking about becoming a vegetarian?” (yes, you guessed it, full of meatheads triumphing meat) and “Does eating too many sweets make kids violent?” (some saying yes, sweets are the partner in crime to the evil media, and some crying out “PC nanny state don’t try and tell me what I can feed my flippin’ kids!”)...

But this morning, waiting with bated breath at the potential dawning of a new Your Views topic, came the question: “Is crime a serious problem in NZ? Is it bad where you live?”, based on findings from a Victoria University study which found that a large number of the participants surveyed felt that crime was an issue in other areas, not their own. What a question! Especially the second half of it, which invites the moaners and groaners of the world to take centre stage...

Rahmat Ali (Manukau Central)
Yes -crime is a serious problem in NZ. Three cars broken into recently- One car door glass broken- after a month another car 3 door glasses broken- After a week another car door lock broken . Police took the complaint, but we have had nothing from them so far- Only report was sent to claim insurance.

I like it how Rahmat considers both questions, but answers the first question, a sociologically complex one at that, directly and succinctly in order to get it out of the way and detail his own experiences. Some of the responses resemble letters to the Independent Police Conduct Authority.

Mercy (Mt Wellington)
It was a very violent country before the new people started to arrive in 1810 or so. It is a lot less violent now, lets celebrate that and don't expect that New Zealand will ever be like a northern European country with an homongenous culture, they don't even have that distinction any more. The law works even if its slow and the prisons are full. At least the criminals are off the streets for a while.

An opinion that is both misinformed and racist! Top marks Mercy.

Indie Gooch (Newton)
This is a nation founded on the wholesale theft of land by threat of genocide - why would anyone be surprised that crime is a part of NZ's culture?

That’s more like it. I’d love to see Indie Gooch and Mercy battle it out in a game of New Zealand-themed Trivial Pursuit.

Jona (Katikati)
Yes crime is a big problem. I live in the country and avoid the pitfalls of urban crime, where the 'pond-life' walk around and commit opportunistic theft and vandalism. However there is still a lot of rural thieving in my area, but at least I am spared the 'hoodied up scum' sloping past and eyeballing my property advertising their intentions, as I recall from living in Whakatane. They are so obvious to watch, they can keep their heads straight ahead, but the eyes are swiveled hard to one side of the head. Another giveaway is they walk up and down past the property several times. And what's with the hoodie on in summer? A disguise? You can't disguise their knuckles dragging on the ground!

Wearing a hoodie in summer – that’s the real crime. You can’t disguise fashion crimes!

But seriously, Your Views, if you wanted to construct the perfect set of questions to incite enough rage amongst users to mobilise them to form vigilante crime-fighting communities, then you might just be on the money with this one.