Sentencing in Australia is a disgrace

stewiejp said:

If we build it, they will come.

Click to expand...

Valentine's Day child rapist wins sentence reduction

A New South Wales man who kidnapped and raped a six-year-old girl on Valentine's Day three years ago has won an appeal against his jail sentence.

Click to expand...

Julia said:

Is this a tongue-in-cheek remark? What are you actually suggesting here?

Click to expand...

Calliope said:

A quotation from Field of Dreams..."if we build it he will come".

Stewiejp is probably suggesting that if we build more jails there will be more candidates to fill them.

Parkinson's Law is similar;

Parkinson's Law:
Work expands to fill the time available for its completion.
Corollaries:
Data expands to fill the space available for storage.
Your stuff accumulates to fill the size of your home

Click to expand...

stewiejp said:

Julia,

Victorian prisons have been full (or close to full) for some years. Last time I checked the stats there were (in even numbers) 5000 prisoners in Victorian prisons, and a further 10,000 "offenders" who were "serving their sentences in the community" - ie they were on parole, or serving non custodial sentences such as suspended sentence (weren't these going to be scrapped) or Community Based Orders etc. Those numbers are a few years old though.

In the past year or two extra beds and/or units have been installed into the Melbourne Assessment Prison (city), Metro. Remand Centre, Port Philip Prison, Barwon, the 2 women's' prisons and all but maybe one or two of the country jails. They are all still full... hence the quote.

FWIW prison numbers have nothing to do with illegal immigrants numbers - they are housed in separate facilities (Detention Centres) as they have not been found guilty or remanded of an offence in an Aussie court - they are simply here illegally, or could be here illegally.

I don't pretend to have the answers, just throwing up a few stats.

Click to expand...

stewiejp said:

Julia,

Victorian prisons have been full (or close to full) for some years. Last time I checked the stats there were (in even numbers) 5000 prisoners in Victorian prisons, and a further 10,000 "offenders" who were "serving their sentences in the community" - ie they were on parole, or serving non custodial sentences such as suspended sentence (weren't these going to be scrapped) or Community Based Orders etc. Those numbers are a few years old though.

In the past year or two extra beds and/or units have been installed into the Melbourne Assessment Prison (city), Metro. Remand Centre, Port Philip Prison, Barwon, the 2 women's' prisons and all but maybe one or two of the country jails. They are all still full... hence the quote.

FWIW prison numbers have nothing to do with illegal immigrants numbers - they are housed in separate facilities (Detention Centres) as they have not been found guilty or remanded of an offence in an Aussie court - they are simply here illegally, or could be here illegally.

I don't pretend to have the answers, just throwing up a few stats.

Click to expand...

Julia said:

Thanks for the full response, stewie.
I'd like to broaden the discussion, if anyone is interested in participating, to consider what role jails play in our society:

i.e. do we imprison people to punish them? (Seems pretty reasonable to most of us that if someone offends against another, there should be some punishment attached, but some might disagree.)

do we imprison them with the belief that in the process they will be rehabilitated?
(The rate of recidivism would suggest that this is not working.)

do we imprison them to keep the rest of us safe or at least provide us with the illusion that we are safe?

what alternatives could we use to jail?

Click to expand...

MrBurns said:

Jail seems to be punishment for all crimes, trouble is there's a big difference between embezzling money and raping someone.
Victimless crimes can be handled with punishment but crimes of a violent nature are different, those offenders should be properly assessed and some of them should be locked away permanently but it doesn't work that way, they get out again, punishment does not cure a violent nature or criminally/mentally sick person.

Click to expand...

MrBurns said:

I meant jail terms with a release date shouldn't apply to all crimes, some offenders should just be in for life, meaning life with no minimum term.

Click to expand...

Man jailed for bashing boy to death

A New South Wales man has been jailed for up to eight years for bashing his partner's four-year-old son to death.

Nathan Forrest pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Bailey Constable, who died in April 2011 near Warren, in western New South Wales.

Justice Elizabeth Fullerton has sentenced Forrest to eight years in jail, with a non-parole period of six.

The judge said Forrest was in a position of authority over the boy, who was sick and recovering from other injuries the night he was bashed.

The child's mother, Jessica Constable, previously told the Supreme Court Forrest had injected himself with speed and hit the child in the bathroom after the boy wet the bed.

She said after her son lost consciousness, Forrest shook him then tried to resuscitate him.

She also said Forrest wanted her to tell people they found Bailey face-down in the bath.

Forrest will be eligible for parole in 2017

Click to expand...

Man jailed over Kiesha's death

Sydney man Robert Smith has been sentenced to 16 years' jail after pleading guilty to the manslaughter of six-year-old Kiesha Weippeart.

The body of the girl was found in bushland at Shalvey in Sydney's west in 2011, one year after she went missing from her Mount Druitt home.

Smith will serve a minimum of 12 years for the killing.

Click to expand...

Kidnapper jailed over 'bizarre' open grave ransom bid

A kidnapper who terrorised a student before pushing her into an open grave has been jailed for at least seven years.

In what the sentencing judge said was a "bizarre" plan, Darren Saltmarsh, 37, of Endeavour Hills, kidnapped the woman in October 2011 after meeting her online.

Victoria's Supreme Court heard Saltmarsh held a knife to her throat, bound her hands and legs, and threatened to kill her.

He stole from her bank accounts before demanding a $20,000 ransom from her family.

The court heard when the money was not paid, he dug a grave in the backyard and pushed the woman into it.

Moments later police raided the house, fearing he was about to kill her.

Saltmarsh has been sentenced to nine-and-a-half years in jail for multiple offences, including kidnapping and attempted murder.

He will serve a minimum of seven years.

Click to expand...

Bill M said:

I just saw the Sydney news tonight and there was a story about a bus driver that whilst going about his job a female teenager took it upon herself to punch this guy 30 times in the head. He called for help and a passenger assisted him in stopping the girl. The call went out to Police and they arrested her at a shopping square. The bus driver was 64 years old. It was all captured on video. She was out on bail less the 24 hours later. Why let scum like this out on bail so easily?

Click to expand...