From: SSAA, [EMAIL PROTECTED] The Courier Mail - Queensland Gun laws marginal in impact on crime Chris Griffith 26jan01 AUSTRALIA'S gun laws have had only a marginal effect on reducing firearm-related crime. According to figures in the new Year Book Australia 2001, the proportion of gun-related murders and robberies decreased in 1999, but firearm use increased in attempted murders from 19 percent in 1998 to 32 percent. Australian Bureau of Statistics figures already had shown a steady fall-off in firearm-related deaths since 1980, well before the 1996 Port Arthur massacre which spawned Prime Minister John Howard's gun laws. The year book, released by the ABS yesterday, published police records which showed Australians were slightly more likely to be murdered, kidnapped, robbed or a victim of attempted murder in 1999 than in 1997. But sexual assault rates were marginally on the decline, as were blackmail and extortion, motor vehicle theft, and drug arrests. But the decline in drug offences was overwhelmingly the result of a 10 percent national drop-off in cannabis-related offences in a year, while heroin convictions increased 38 percent from 1998 to 1999. The overwhelming number of Queensland drug-related arrests were cannabis related: 13,386 cannabis arrests compared with 766 for heroin, in stark contrast to Victoria where the number of heroin-related arrests (8153) almost matched cannabis arrests (9286). In the five years from 1994, prisons have become the largest growth area for government expenditure on justice. The area of corrective services received a funding boost of 7.1 percent Australia-wide, but funding for the administration of criminal trials received just 2 percent more money than five years ago. Despite a long running international campaign against high incarceration rates of indigenous Australians, in March 2000, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders comprised 20 percent of Australia's prison population, with the highest number being found in Queensland (1173). The book included a paper on 20th Century Crime by Australian Institute of Criminology director Adam Graycar who said that in 1900, many Australians were incarcerated because of their mental state "and at the end of the century this continues to be the case". One hundred years ago, there was great concern about drunkenness, gambling, and Chinese opium dens, whereas today, concerns such as cyber crime, international drug trafficking, burglary, and domestic violence were more prominent social ills. Alcohol related crime was a common theme throughout the past 100 years. Dr Graycar said Australia's current homicide rate was similar to that of many northern European countries and Canada and New Zealand, but double that of Japan, Norway, and Ireland. The US had four times the murder rate of Australia. There now was little difference in the murder rates in different parts of Australia, except for the Northern Territory. Cybershooters website: http://www.cybershooters.org List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ____________________________________________________________ T O P I C A -- Learn More. Surf Less. Newsletters, Tips and Discussions on Topics You Choose. http://www.topica.com/partner/tag01
