Australian News Commentary
Australian News Commentary
Weekly round-up 19 July, 1988
Criminals, academics and judges
Crime featured heavily in the West Australian this week. The front page report of Thursday 19th July featured the recently-released national crime statistics, detailing the increase in criminal offences over the past year .
This brought the predictable response from chief crime apologist, David Indermaur research fellow, Crime Research Centre, University of WA. Each time the media publish statistics on rising crime, or feature community concern about rising crime, Indemaur rushes into print stating that either:
Indermaur was ready for Thursday's feature. The next day the West Australian ran a half page of the usual academic codswallop from Indermaur for. His outrageous response to community calls for tougher penalties for convicted criminals was:
"It matters little that such punishment will not reduce the crime rate. Reports have shown that more prisons, harsher punishment and more police have not made our community safer."
What reports? You know an academic is trying to hoodwink you when he says, "Reports show that....."
The control of crime in Singapore is proof of the fallacy of his argument.
What is Indermaur suggesting - we throw open the prison gates and free all the criminals.
He cites an unknown report that
"crime is predictable - it is committed mainly by those who feel and are marginalised.
Did Alan Bond, Chrisopher Skase and all the corporate crooks of the 1980's feel marginalised? Do the criminal masterminds behind organised crime in Australia feel marginalised? The drug barons deal in death and destruction for profit. Is Indermaur saying that when caught, these monsters should be counselled rather than jailed?
Indermaur is peddling dangerous nonsense. The criminals must be laughing all the way to the bank - literally.
Judge's comments spark community outrage.
Later in the week, a judge echoed the do-gooder line of Indermaur. The West Australian of July 18 reported:
A knife-wielding attacker terrorised a frail old man in Northbridge, knocked him to the ground and stole $465 -but yesterday a Supreme Court judge blamed society for the crime.
Justice Henry Wallwork said attacks on Perth's elderly would continue until the community took responsibility for its citizens.
Letters to the editor and talkback callers roundly condemned Justice Wallwork for his comments.
What is university training doing to these people? Their thinking and reasoning seems to be flawed. Some say that when taking sociology and psychology units they are indoctrinated into a socialist, utopian view of society.
The community would be better off if both Mr Indermaur and Mr Justice Wallwork took themselves off the public payroll.
