Mandatory Sentencing of
Criminals
Who should make Australia's
laws?
Should Australia's laws be
made by the people via their democratically elected representatives? Or
should they be made by an anonymous committee in Geneva?
Foreign Minister, Alexander
Downer, is right to say the government is considering reviewing the
various UN treaties signed by Australian governments over the
years.
Australia's self-appointed elite
of academics, judges, lawyers, journalists and do-gooders has been
waiting for the moment to attack the mandatory sentencing
laws of Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
They got their
chance recently when a 15-year-old Aboriginal
hanged himself in jail after being sentenced under the
mandatory sentencing laws of the NT.
This misguided group are carrying out a vociferous
campaign to overturn the laws, and has now convinced a United
Nations committee to interfere in our domestic politics.
They fail to realise that
mandatory sentencing arose because of the efforts of this arrogant
elite to
protect criminals from justice.
While WA has had mandatory sentencing
laws, without public outcry, in relation to murder,
wilful murder and drink driving, for some years, the
mandatory sentencing of juveniles is far from ideal.
However, the laws arose out of the failure of judges to
sentence repeat offenders to jail.
In their campaign, the media have
introduced the racism card, by selectively focusing on
the death of an Aboriginal youth in custody and the
jailing of an Aboriginal for stealing biscuits, to push
their cause and to stifle criticism.
However, all they have done is begin to
expose the real reason mandatory sentencing came into
being. In recent years, a campaign by the taxpayer-funded media arm of the
Aboriginal industry, in concert with academics, coerced
judges in to handing down soft penalties to Aboriginals
in general and Aboriginal youths in particular. The
public were outraged at the soft sentences handed out to
perpetrators of horrific crimes. Many of the offenders
are young Aboriginals. The most notorious WA case is that
of a young Aboriginal who crashed his stolen car into a
young family's Volkswagen, killing a pregnant mother and her year-old child. Court records revealed
this offender had around 400 previous convictions. Proper sentencing would have jailed him long
ago and perhaps saved three lives.
It is absurd to say the
laws are racist. The laws make no mention of race. If Aboriginals are
sentenced to jail it is because they have committed crimes. It would
be equally absurd to say the laws are sexist because more men than
women are in jail.
Mandatory sentencing of juveniles is
not ideal. But it is better then letting thugs, rapists and murderers
roam the streets.
The elite versus the majority
"My street is a war zone"
Because of biased media reporting, a visitor to
Australia might think the majority is against mandatory
sentencing. Nothing could be further from the truth. Most
Australians support the jailing of repeat offenders. The
current debate exposes the huge gulf between the
politically correct elite and mainstream Australians.
This is summed up by a
two recent letters to the editor of The West Australian.
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