Sentencing in Australia is a disgrace

[rumpole]

Is it a reality that the level of police resources directed at a crime against a child is determined by the amount of public attention that can be garnered?

Unfortunately yes.

The creaking door gets the most oil.

There are other equivalents as well.

Did the hunt for the Jill Meagher killer get more resources because the police knew that the ABC were always going to keep it in the public eye ? Maybe.

I suppose the police may think that if the public doesn't care about a particular victim, why should they ? On the other hand there have been examples of cold cases being solved from long ago where the public forgot they ever happened. It depends how conscientious the police on the case are.

 

[McLovin]

Is it a reality that the level of police resources directed at a crime against a child is determined by the amount of public attention that can be garnered?

Yes. Middle class and white will always get more attention because more people can relate to it.

And while this is truly a heartbreaking story, I wouldn't put it at the most serious level of what you see coming out of courts on a regular basis. The little aboriginal girl on the Central Coast of NSW who was pretty much tortured to death by her mother's boyfriend over a period of months has not received anywhere near as much news.

It's a shocking statistic, but about once a fortnight in this country a parent kills their own child.

 

[Julia]

I suppose the police may think that if the public doesn't care about a particular victim, why should they ?

What? That's not reasonable. For the police every single case of assault against a child should have equal priority. It's not up to the public to care. They are not charged with bringing justice for the victim. The police are.

And while this is truly a heartbreaking story, I wouldn't put it at the most serious level of what you see coming out of courts on a regular basis. The little aboriginal girl on the Central Coast of NSW who was pretty much tortured to death by her mother's boyfriend over a period of months has not received anywhere near as much news.

It's a shocking statistic, but about once a fortnight in this country a parent kills their own child.

Both good examples.

 

[rumpole]

What? That's not reasonable. For the police every single case of assault against a child should have equal priority. It's not up to the public to care. They are not charged with bringing justice for the victim. The police are.

Obviously in theory yes. But if you don't have the resources to properly cover every case, what would you do ?

 

[Julia]

Obviously in theory yes. But if you don't have the resources to properly cover every case, what would you do ?

I would attempt to disperse those resources fairly, rather than in response to media and other pressure.

 

[rumpole]

I would attempt to disperse those resources fairly, rather than in response to media and other pressure.

I'm sure it's done that way in some cases, in others people take the path of least resistance. Life sucks sometimes.

 

[Tink]

Our disgraceful justice system, how many times do we have to say this?

Last week we had a young girl stabbed to death by a known offender
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/la...dered-schoolgirl/story-fni0fee2-1227278457868

and now this, more comes to light on Bayley, and how our justice system has failed us.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/op...stay-behind-bars/story-fni0ffsx-1227280309325

As Bayley wreaked savagery over more than two decades the justice system ”” including the courts and the Parole Board ”” put his rights ahead of his soon-to-be victims.
With the conclusion of Bayley’s three secret rape trials, the Herald Sun can at last tell Victorians the full extent of how they were betrayed by the justice system.

If the story of how the justice system enabled the very different lives of Jill Meagher and Adrian Bayley to intersect on Sydney Rd, Brunswick in the early hours of September 22, 2012, were an isolated chapter, it would be tragic enough.
But it is not. Rather it is part of a pattern of behaviour from a pro-offender justice system that allows Victorians ”” some of them innocent young women ”” to be brutally attacked and murdered.
Victorians were assured in the wake of Jill Meagher’s murder that the flaws exposed by this shocking crime had been fixed.
Painfully, we have learned that the system remains broken. Victorians are shouting “enough is enough”.

Bayley is now 41. When he was 19, he raped two teenagers, one a family friend and the other a 16-year-old hitchhiker, in separate attacks.
This was when he first started to benefit from the vagaries of the justice system. He served only 22 months of a five-year sentence.
Bayley had already committed the rapes for which he has now been found guilty and was on parole after serving eight years for a series of rapes in St Kilda when he seriously injured a stranger in an unprovoked assault in Geelong.
He was convicted and sentenced to three months’ jail, but once again the system served the offender. Bayley was granted bail when he appealed against the severity of what was a lenient sentence.
The magistrate could and should have refused bail and the Parole Board should have come down hard on this violent abuser.
But Bayley knew how to work the system and he remained free to seek another victim.
Tragically, it was Jill Meagher as she walked home in Brunswick after meeting friends.

There is no excuse for these gross oversights or the ignorance shown by those who should have recognised they were releasing a predator back into the community.
Bayley knew what he was. After murdering Mr Meagher, he said the death penalty should have been kept “for people like me”.
Few might disagree after the gross inadequacies revealed in a justice system that emphasises the rights of the accused and their rehabilitation over the rights of their victims and the families that are left to grieve.
The torment Bayley has caused will never pass for the family of the sweet Irish girl who was walking home in Sydney Rd when this violent abuser found once again that he was free to satisfy his lust instead of contemplating a cruel and callous life back in a jail cell.

There have been changes to the parole system following a review ordered by the Napthine government after a Herald Sun investigation revealed other violent prisoners released on parole had committed murders.
Like Bayley, some should have been put back behind bars for parole breaches; instead, they remained free to kill.
There were other failures that might have assisted Bayley. As police were closing in on him for the Meagher murder, he received a warning from someone in the parole system that he was a suspect.
There is also a belief that DNA evidence taken from Bayley after a rape in 2001 had gone missing or was never recorded on a database.

All these systemic and behavioural failures will alarm decent, law-abiding people. There has been a monster in their midst who was protected by the inadequacies of a justice system meant to protect the community; especially the women whom Bayley preyed upon for more than 20 years.
IT has not always been Bayley’s cunning as a sexual predator that has allowed him to escape the full force of the law.
It has been the breakdown of a system that must also take responsibility for what he has done.
The proceedings in Bayley’s rape trials this year were suppressed so as not to influence subsequent juries. Only now that he faces no further charges have these orders been lifted.

The evidence given by his victims was chilling. Sex workers picked up by Bayley in his car said they found themselves trapped when he pulled up against a fence. They said they were punched and then raped while unable to flee.
Bayley’s defence was that he was the victim of mistaken identity, but the women he attacked said they would never forget his face.
The proof that justice authorities have learnt by their mistakes will be shown by how they intend to protect the community in the light of these failures.
The daily slew of suppression orders imposed by courts is a public injustice.
Victorians have a right to know what is happening in the courts. The tendency to secrecy is a public disgrace.
Justice must not only be done, it must be seen to be done. It is hoped the sentences for the three rapes for which Bayley has been convicted will add to the time he spends in jail.

Even he says: “They should never have let me out.’’

 

[Tink]

With the ongoing carjackings and home invasions -

Crime in Melbourne: Bailed twice in a fortnight, teen stabs off duty cop in home invasion

Earlier, Sen-Constable Yeoman said he was lucky to be alive but was furious the alleged offender was already given bail.

Sen-Constable Daniel Yeoman, who underwent surgery after sustaining a broken eye socket and severed nerve in his head, has told of the encounter with an accused teen who was twice bailed in a fortnight.

Laws to curb repeat offending while on bail are being fast-tracked amid concern the courts are failing the community.

Sen-Constable Yeoman said in a message to the Herald Sun: “I’m just glad that my family and I are all OK.”

“It could have been a lot worse,’’ he said.

The attack took place inside their home in Melbourne’s east on Saturday at about 1.50am.

Shereen, who desperately tried to hold a side door shut before the intruder forced his way in and demanded keys, said the system was failing ordinary citizens.

“It just made me really angry that he was able to be let out on bail,’’ Ms Yeoman said.

“It should never have happened.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/ne...t/news-story/68b6c9206c4ef56d75f9d673ee3b7f80
-------------------------------------------

Victorian Government's decision to send youth rioters to adult prison to be challenged in court

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-11-...t-prison-to-be-challenged/8050922?section=vic

Melbourne youth jail riots bill hits $10 million

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/la...s/news-story/4e63beda61c5b93109578c65115299e0

 

[dutchie]

African Apex gang member 'stole an elderly couple's BMW as they were strapping in their baby granddaughter - before arming himself and stealing $25,000 worth of cigarettes'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...-arming-stealing-25-000-worth-cigarettes.html

No doubt he will be slapped over both wrists for this.

 

[MrBurns]

We should have elections every 2 years, this incompetent bastard is there until next year sometime..........

 

[dutchie]

Immigrant who raped woman after breaking into her home should have been deported two years earlier after racking up 400 convictions - but tribunal gave him 'one last chance'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...fford-raped-woman-deportation-overturned.html

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal must take responsibility for this rape. I wonder how the members would feel if it was their mother, wife or daughter.
Disgraceful, heads should roll!

 

[MrBurns]

I'm absolutely fed up with "the system" but no one seems to give a damn and do anything about it.

 

[SirRumpole]

Immigrant who raped woman after breaking into her home should have been deported two years earlier after racking up 400 convictions - but tribunal gave him 'one last chance'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...fford-raped-woman-deportation-overturned.html

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal must take responsibility for this rape. I wonder how the members would feel if it was their mother, wife or daughter.
Disgraceful, heads should roll!

The AAT should only be available to Australian Citizens. We need to be able to deport all the nasties that we can. This is a shocking case of a shark slipping through the net.

 

[Tisme]

Immigrant who raped woman after breaking into her home should have been deported two years earlier after racking up 400 convictions - but tribunal gave him 'one last chance'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...fford-raped-woman-deportation-overturned.html

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal must take responsibility for this rape. I wonder how the members would feel if it was their mother, wife or daughter.
Disgraceful, heads should roll!

The real question is why the decision was made. There are suburbs upon suburbs here in Brisbane with intinerent kiwi and islander populations with nothing better to do than anti social behaviours, many with criminal records ....why are they here?

 

[SirRumpole]

The real question is why the decision was made. There are suburbs upon suburbs here in Brisbane with intinerent kiwi and islander populations with nothing better to do than anti social behaviours, many with criminal records ....why are they here?

If they are not going to deport someone with 400 convictions, no wonder we are a Disneyland for migrant crime.

 

[dutchie]

Another pathetic judicial decision.

Violent teens who robbed IMP Jewellery in Toorak escape jail sentence.

THREE teenagers who carried out a terrifying armed robbery, snatching $100,000 worth of jewellery, have avoided being locked up, angering the industry and Victoria’s police union.

Victoria has suffered a wave of similar violent crimes, and the industry now fears the Children’s Court sentence might embolden gangs of young bandits to strike again.

The judge rejected prosecution arguments for a custodial sentence, imposing 18-month youth supervision orders on the trio, who pleaded guilty.

The maximum sentence available in the Children’s Court is three years’ youth detention. In an adult court, the maximum penalty for armed robbery is 25 years in prison.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/la...e/news-story/7c3c44f518ad7e8c9adab509477d3ec8


Judges are so out of touch.

 

[MrBurns]

This goes on every day in Victoria, people are starting to arm themselves as the Govt and Judiciary are incompetent.

 

[explod]

To a desperate sentencing/penalty is the last thing on the mind.

The only way to decrease crime (you'll never completely wipe it out) is through proper education, example and the provision of a reasonable life path for everyone. A person's future is set in the first five years of life so the responsibity for crime rests with parents and the community.

 

[MrBurns]

Lots of luck with that, however in the meantime we need to protect people instead of releasing every creep on bail or early parole.
The low life who killed the woman with his monkey bike got 4 years, where's the justice in that.

 

[Tisme]

"Brandis grants parole to terror plotter"

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/in-...r/news-story/96e5010e695761dd64eeb5ac59330a0f