LAW AND ORDER by SPANKOZ AUSTRALIA

Law and Order

This page is designed to air views on what is happening now in the area of Law and Order . We do not have a large research team and we suffer from the poor standard of most of the local media reporting . We also have the drawback of coming from middle class backgrounds in what appears below , still this is how we see it .

Strange as it may seem to some ( depending on how you came to this page ) , we are strongly against capital punishment ( George W got rid of 151 in Texas , is it any safer there now ? ) , long jail sentences and corporal punishment of children in most cases . No , we are not " Soft on Crime " .

This page was placed here as our response to the present mandatory sentencing legislation in the Australian state of Western Australia and the Northern Territory , although there are other examples , even in our own state of New South Wales . We intend to expand its contents , time permitting .

Crime is a man made concept , being an ugly women in the main street ( in daylight ) was a crime in one US western town . The Golden Rule or the Ten Commandments ( or your religion's version of them ) are a pretty good starting and ending point for criminal law in some ways .

Why do politicians fill up jails with the results of harsher legislation , when the crime rate is stable or increasing ? It is cheaper to stop people committing crime and rehabilitate those who do than keep them locked up . Some need " time out " when this rehabilitation is happening or are a threat to others , for some jail is the best and only place for them , but forever ?

Mandatory Sentencing

The local issue is one of locking up juveniles for petty property offences . One boy hanged himself after being jailed for stealing under $ 5 worth of ink etc markers . If he had been over 17 at the time of the third offence he would have been an adult and got 12 months ! Extreme case , yes , but it happened here in Australia , a " First World Country " , in 2000 .

The bigger picture is one of why have Judges and Magistrates at all if you take away their discretion ? We are not talking of " Oh well , he comes from a poor background " " explanations " , but some compassion may be in order . At present , with mandatory sentencing , the police decide who goes to jail .

COMMENTS : lawandorder@spankoz.net

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This page was last updated : Friday, 04 July 2003