We all make assumptions because of some bad calls by judges, and these get a lot of publicity. A number of States have introduced mandatory sentencing which gives judges no choice. The Victorian Government introduced minimum mandatory sentences for gross violence offences in 2013 in response to community concerns about penalties for serious violence. Gross violence is defined (in part) as being premeditated, in-company, or continuing the act of violence once a person is incapacitated. The laws are there, and judges have greatly increased the sentencing rate. This graph of Victoria's incarceration rate shows the problem.
It is not only Australia, but we are near the top:
The number imprisoned in Victoria has gone from 2,000 to 6,112 in only 20 years to 2014 and had climbed to 7,668 in 2018. Victoria is building yet another gaol to try and keep up - a $690 million, 700 resident prison at Lara. So it costs about $1 million dollars per prisoner to build the prisons, then $100,000 per year per adult inmate and $200,000 per year per juvenile inmate. Governments have a hard time - there is a limit to what taxpayers will tolerate. There is also the issue of prisons being training grounds for a lifetime of crime, which is why courts and governments are loathe to impose incarceration on young first-time offenders. Juvenile offenders mostly grow out of it by their early twenties and only a minority re-offend. How many of you here are embarrassed by something you did when young, how many were simply lucky enough not to be caught then, and how many of you know someone who did this who is now a responsible, law-abiding adult? I certainly know a number among friends and aquaintances.
There has been a lot of speculation about the cause of the increase. One suggestion has been that in the mid-60s we had a change in societies' attitudes - a huge increase in single-parent families, a dramatic change in alcohol hours and licensing laws, an adoption of a drug culture, and a shift away from restraints that strong religious observance involved (these are not value judgements, just facts - the very things that we often identify with a "freer" society and less judgemental involvement in peoples affairs). I have family working with addiction and behavioural issues, and ice is still second to alcohol.
The real problem is the type of society we seem to have created - it is primarily families that create criminals (addiction and violence issues often results from a damaged childhood), and we need to break the pattern. However I also think we should consider what we offer youngsters in terms of activities. Government regulations, green laws, and prohibitive insurance for clubs, combined with the electronic age are creating a very sedentary young population. Did you see the article about youngsters showing changes in neck bone structure from always looking down at screens? I feel that government needs to encourage more in this area - I have seen the changes that can occur with things like sports clubs, good mentors etc. I suspect that I was saved by good mentors and clubs as a teenager.
But I don't think we can leave it all to governments - have you volunteered in any youth organisations lately? I find it can feel quite rewarding - there is a lot more to youngsters than just the negative.
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