People who know me would attest that they have often heard me say that we are over legislated in this country, however, few of these laws exist to protect us, and many are to protect property rather than life, dignity or innocence. An excellent case in point is the story I heard this morning on Triple R of the 12-year-old boy who was arrested, and charged for receiving stolen goods; a Freddo Frog and a novelty store sign. Given, the state in which the 'offense' occurred is WA, notorious for it's racist, poorly contrived and enacted legal system; I am not as surprised as I should be! Some excellent examples of WA 'justice' follow:
http://www.abc.net.au/pm/stories/s105115.htm
http://abc.gov.au/news/stories/2009/08/10/2650664.htm?site=local
http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2007/s1971712.htm
The police in WA have a demented sense of justice; quotes to the media from Acting Superintendent Peter Halliday, of Northam police were as follows:
· 'charges against juveniles as young as 12 were only laid as a last resort.'
· "It's not about the value, it's about stopping children from offending,"
· "When they don't work it's entirely appropriate that we escalate matters to the children's court," (In reference to juvenile justice teams and warnings.)
· "needing to do the right thing not only by the community but also by the child involved"
When did context become unimportant in policing? Twelve-year-old children need guidance, respect and love. The very word 'offending' has been semantically misshapen by the police, to give offense is not something to be punished for, a misplaced Freddo Frog is not a feasible motivation for punishment, the motivation here is racism. There is no love in Western Australia between the judiciary, government, police and Aboriginal communities, there cannot be, there have been to many incidences of graft and corruption, underhanded dealings, theft, violence, failure to protect and misunderstandings.
http://home.vicnet.net.au/~aar/custody.htm
How can a community that has a threatened child feel any empathy for a system that systematically kills hundreds of Aboriginal people every year, and has done so since colonization began? The police officer may have felt justified because the child is said to have missed a court appearance earlier that month; I can't believe it would be up to a 12-year-old child to attend a court appearance. The boys lawyer said he had been apprehended at school and imprisoned for several hours in a holding cell at the local police station; if that was my child I would be so angry, so furious, so frightened, however, this is a situation that Aboriginal people face every day, imagine waiting for your child to come home from school not knowing where he is, to find out that he's been sitting in jail with who knows what kind of people, constantly exposed to danger, out of your care. No wonder there is apathy, numbness from people; how can you fight this so-called 'justice' system? Where do you find the strength to protect your children from these animals? Most white parents will never experience this fear and humiliation, many black parents will - when will we as Australians stand together and fight this bad behavior? Why don't we have a bill of rights in this country? To implement one would be a mammoth task because we would actually have to liberate our country, to admit that in many corners there is massive injustice! We are over-legislated; if you are raped, the rapist will get eight to ten years, if the judge is displeased enough by the violence of the crime - and goddess help you if you get Justice Kirby! Comparatively, if you rob a bank in this country you will be sentenced to 14 years!
Goddess help these children and these communities, and may future generations to come forgive us our apathy and pathetic response to these crimes against Aboriginal people in this country.
No comments:
Post a Comment