Aboriginal Deaths in Custody

[What'sinaname]

I have no problems with children getting adult like sentences. If you refuse to act like a human, you don't deserve human rights.

I have seen zero evidence where soft on crime works.

[David]

The problem begins with framing human rights as a matter of desert. The concept underlying human rights is that everyone is entitled to them; it's not something you earn. Without this fundamental concept, we'd still be putting prisoners in torture devices to this day (though perhaps I'm wrong to assume you think that would be a bad thing)!

I don't support being soft on crime, but, rather, being smart on crime. That's not just semantics: being soft is giving lenient sentences without any other structural changes, which I agree is doomed to fail; genuinely prioritising rehabilitation, on the other hand, involves radically improving prison conditions, a wholesale commitment to working with offenders after release and an increase in funding for preventative services. You can find plenty of evidence for the latter methods working if you want to look. You'll also struggle to find much evidence to support tough-on-crime policies in terms of reducing recidivism or affecting crime rates overall.

[What'sinaname]

It's not something you earn, but it should be something you lose. I never said this had to be earned. You are gifted it at birth. It's yours to lose after that.

[David]

We obviously disagree, but for me it’s simply not a humane society that would rescind the right to be considered a human or be treated as one. It’s a cruel and violent way of thinking, and one that will inevitably only breed further cruelty and violence.

[watt price tully]

In any rational justice system revenge / harsh punishment just doesn’t work. The soft on crime label is good for talkback but really contributes little to an intelligent discussion about crime; leave that for the pollies and shock jocks.

The best outcomes historically have come from more enlightened approaches. This was true of convicts coming to Australia and is true in some of the Scandinavian models. Re convicts this was explained / described in part by Robert Hughes epic “The Fatal Shore” a great read BTW about Australian history through transportation etc. Of course that doesn’t satisfy the revenge factor that too many of us including me.

[What'sinaname]

[stui magpie]