Forwarded by: "Deaths In Custody Watch Commitee (WA) Inc."
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------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent: Fri, 25 Feb 2000 19:49:04 +0800
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
From: Dot <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: mandatory sentencing
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Dear Geoff,
I am bitterly disappointed with regard to the ill informed stand that
the
state labor party is taking on mandatory sentencing. I believe that you
are
acutely aware that imprisonment fails the community miserably in terms
of
public protection. To put more and more people in prison for longer
periods
of time is simply legitimised vengeance which does nothing to heal the
effects of crime in the community. Prisons produce more crime and
angrier
more socially deskilled individuals who, when released, demonstrate
enhanced
criminal skills and utilise wider networks of associates entrenched in a
subculture of criminality. Your stance on mandatory sentencing is NOT
TOUGH
ON CRIME and I find it quite concerning that this decision is so
obviously
one of political expediency in the months leading up to a state
election.
There are alternatives to imprisonment that ARE tough on crime and allow
victims some meaningful input, restore confidence in the community and
encourage offenders to accept responsibility for their actions. Prison
does
not achieve any of its claimed objectives... rehabilitation of
offenders,
deterrence to crime or a reduction in the recidivism rate. Wake up, you
are
simply wallowing in the shadow of a conservative government hell bent on
producing a 'dangerous class' on whom they can blame all society's ills.
Show some courage and leadership and search for meaningful alternatives
to
imprisonment. They are all around you. The communitarian model of
restorative justice has been trialed in Timaru, New Zealand. The judge
there
has reduced custodial sentences from an average of 200 per ! ! year
to 30 per year, has reduced court waiting lists accordingly and guess
what
- there has been no escalation in the crime rate in that jurisdiction.
In
fact the crime rate has dropped by approximately 10%.
LET US SEE SOME INNOVATION FROM THE LABOR PARTY, SOME COURAGE TO DO THE
RIGHT THING BY THE PEOPLE OF THIS STATE. DOROTHY GOULDING, RESTORATIVE
JUSTICE WA 0413478347, 94978061 BRIAN STEELS, `` `` ``
0419907016, 92729141
------- End of forwarded message -------
Deaths In Custody Watch Committee (WA) Inc)
119 Mathieson Road, REDCLIFFE, Western Australia, 6104
"The beginning of the cause of deaths in custody does not occur within
the
confines of police and prison cells or in the minds of the victims.
Initially it starts in the minds of those who allow it to happen."
Elder Dr. Jack Davis (OA, MBE)
* [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.omen.net.au/~dicwc *
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