Sam Uffindell was lucky to avoid NZ’s criminal justice system as a schoolboy – but it was the right outcome

Getty Images

However you look at it, the National Party has selected someone who once committed an act of criminal violence to represent the Tauranga electorate in parliament.

It’s an unfortunate move for a self-styled party of law and order, but perhaps it should be welcomed. If the party is able to forgive Sam Uffindell, then perhaps it’s also time for bipartisan efforts to make the justice system itself more forgiving, particularly when it affects children.