recent posts
- Aboriginal Ward family get $3.2m payment for prison van death - 29/07/10
- Prisoner transport changes following death - 27/07/10
- WA crime rate down, say police - 25/07/10
- WA Dept Corrective Services News and Media Releases: Court Security and Custodial Services Contract - 17/07/10
- Prison van death a 'jolt to the system' - 17/07/10
events
Draconian law doesn't serve the people's interest
Luke Walladge From: The Australian February 06, 2010
COLIN Barnett's minority Liberal government fell into office in Western Australia almost accidentally; more Stephen Bradbury than Roger Federer. <!-- google_ad_section_end(name=story_introduction) -->
<!-- // .story-intro --><!-- google_ad_section_start(name=story_body, weight=high) -->The result was a government elected without any hard questions being asked of its major players and policy objectives, particularly when it came to justice and the law. First was a repeal of Labor's truth-in-sentencing laws, effectively increasing the length of jail terms for all offences by half.
This was rapidly followed by laws installing mandatory minimum sentences for assaults on police, the introduction of Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs), changes to the hoon drivers legislation and changes to the Prisoners Review Board (the body overseeing parole in WA).
The cherry on top of this blancmange is the Criminal Investigation Amendment Bill 2009, before a parliamentary committee. Among other things, the bill seeks to amend the Criminal Investigation Act 2006 to extend police search powers to remove the need for reasonable suspicion for a police search to take place.
This abolishes checks and balances on police accountability while making searches, and extends the powers of police officers to being able to search a person's vehicle without reasonable cause within a prescribed area.
In Britain, after nearly 10 years of similar legislation, stop-and-search laws have recently been withdrawn. The British experience showed that few results were ever obtained under the new powers - just six arrests for every 100,000 searches - and the result was a breakdown of relations between police and the community.
Likewise, ASBOs have failed in Britain, yet the WA Liberals want to use them to give police the power to "ban" people, particularly teenagers, from certain areas and jail them if they transgress.
The outcome from the Liberal government's radical legal changes has been disastrous. The first two cases tried for "assaults" on police officers involved mentally ill defendants, who should have been given medical attention rather than a jail term. But the magistrate was left with no option but to deliver them into the arms of the prison system. When it comes to the granting of parole, the Attorney-General's appointee to the Prison Review Board, Narelle Johnson, has refused virtually all parole applications.
The cumulative effect of the new justice regime in Western Australia has been startling. The prison population has grown from about 3900 adult persons in 2008, to about 4800 in 2010 - a 23 per cent increase in a little more than a year.
Was this justified by rising crime? WA has, on the contrary, seen statistics for serious crimes such as assault, rape and robbery decline during the past decade.
The result is that a prison system designed to hold about 3400 prisoners at any one time is catering for nearly 5000. Rehabilitation programs are few and far between, recidivism rates are climbing. The kicker is the cost to WA taxpayers of this increase: an extra $40 million, enough to build four new primary schools.
One might well ask where the opposition has been. Sadly, the current debates on law and order have seen the Labor Party engage in a wrestling match with itself. Divisions have emerged within the parliamentary caucus. The ALP supported or is supporting the changes to hoon laws, search powers and extended sentences, and is conspicuous by its absence in public debate on the rest.
Politically, no one wants to look like they support criminals over victims or the police. But the argument against these laws is simple - they don't work.
Sooner or later the public will realise that the "protection" promised by law-and-order auctions is simply a fraud. Law-and-order auctions appeal to emotions.
But governments are elected to develop policies that suit the public need. The electorate knows this. It's why it has often rejected ideology at the expense of policy they want, from bank nationalisation to Work Choices.
Luke Walladge was an adviser to the Gallop and Carpenter Labor governments in WA.
Source: The Australian
