Why do courts give criminals so many chances?

Reading this story today makes me ask this question.

What is it about courts and judges that sees them give violent criminals so many chances?  Surely they must know that there are some people who are just irredeemably evil and should be removed permanently from normal society.  No matter what rehabilitation or therapy, or how many chances they get, at the end of the day they are just evil bastards who should never be let  out of gaol.

Today’s story concerns a 24 year old woman who was kidnapped and repeatedly raped by a man who had served 15 years in total for 3 previous rapes.  The victim, not unreasonably, asks:

“Fifteen years for three rapes is appalling. He should be getting that
for one, at least. People like this should not be let out to do this to
more people. It’s not fair.

“Why have a maximum sentence if nobody ever gets it?

“If what he did to me is not worth the maximum penalty, what is?”

He committed these latest crimes in early February after being released from prison only in November last year.  Admittedly he was not released early, but at the completion of his sentence, so the fault here lies with the leniency of that sentence.   Seven years he served for the second and third rapes …how did he get that sentence for repeat offences when the maximum term of imprisonment for rape is 25 years?  Soft judge?

Hopefully there will be no such leniency this time around.  This vile man, William Craig Forde, aged 48, should never see the outside of a prison cell again.

While on the subject of criminals and prisoners, I was amazed by the fact that the NSW prison authorities had paid for a prisoner’s semen to be frozen and stored - he was undergoing chemotherapy which was likely to leave him sterile.  Apparently this was not an isolated case, and there was a bit of a political ruckus when this practice became public knowledge.  What amazes me is that some bureaucrats even contemplated, let alone allowed, and paid for, this.  Why let the scum in gaol breed?  The sooner they are removed from humanity’s gene pool, the better.   And why let them spend their time exercising?  This really pisses me off - we leave prisoners to become stronger and fitter and learn their trade better in gaol.  Why?  I don’t want to see criminals leaving gaol big and strong - I want them weak and feeble.

Technorati Tags: justice system, lenient sentencing, rape, prisoners, criminals

Beaconsfield - the big question answered

You know what the big question was for my kids during the Beaconsfield mine rescue? Where did they go to the toilet? (Actually this question also came up in conversation with work colleagues during the week.)

Well, now we have the answer from one of the rescuers. According to him, the 2 miners used one of their helmets to collect water dripping off the rocks, the other for a toilet. Now for the important answer to the big question:

“Todd didn’t shit for 14 days, he reckons,” Burns said. “Brant had two.”

As for peeing, don’t know the answer, but I suspect it was a nice warm feeling when they did one.

I can actually relate to how Todd Russell apparently handled crapping. We used to go camping regularly to the same place. For the first few years there were no toilets, so if you needed to go, it was off into the bush to find a rock or tree to shit behind, and then bury it. Not appealing at all …. expecially as my mates were inclined to sneak up with a camera, flash and there you were on film (although more often than not, we just let the flash off just to worry the shitter, hopefully into shitting on their boots, or their pants around their ankles). So unless you were desperate to go, most of us managed to hang on from Friday night to Sunday afternoon, when you could go at a servo or something on the way home. That all changed when they put a proper toilet block in … nice toilets, relax, back on regular schedule just like at home.

Technorati Tags: Beaconsfield, shit, toilet

Images that we remember forever

Back again from Sydney, where I was doing it tough at Coogee.

I didn’t see much of the world outside the hotel and the pub down the road for the week, but it was fantastic waking up on Tuesday, turning the TV on and seeing Brant Webb and Todd Russell walking out of the Beaconsfield mine.  I reckon those images of the two men coming out of the mine, lifting their arms in the air, taking their tags off the “down mine” board and hugging their families and friends are ones that will be remain inspiring for a very long time.

Amazing story wasn’t it!  Two weeks stuck in a small cage, and they walk out like its the end of a normal shift.

I’m sure we’ll hear plenty about their story in due course.  Inevitably there’ll be books and quite likely a movie or TV miniseries.  Hopefully, the men won’t be tarnished by the tackiness of the media circus trying to  trump their competition by sealing up exclusive rights to  tell their story.

Technorati Tags: Beaconsfield, Brant Webb, Todd Russell

Blogging activity will be quiet this week

I’m off to Sydney for a conference for work.  I’ll be doing it tough, here …..

Bird Flu?

We had a magpie in one of our trees yesterday. We first noticed it sitting on a branch doing nothing, with a long strand of snot or something hanging off its beak.  It didn’t look healthy at all.  Later in the day, we noticed it sitting on the ground, still with the snot hanging off its beak.  This morning it lay dead on our grass.

We wondered whether it was bird flu that killed it.  I was also surprised one of the neighbours cats or dogs hadn’t eaten it.

This morning I gave it a funeral …. well, picked it up with a plastic bag and chucked it in the garbage bin.

Technorati Tags: bird flu, avian flu, dead magpie

Big Brother - Karen plays the sympathy card

I spotted this today, and thought to myself, pretty blatant ploy by her sister to drum up sympathy for the single mum in the Big Brother house.

“She makes sacrifices and always makes sure the kids don’t go without.

“It would help her out financially with the kids and with life. She does struggle.”

I can hear the violins wailing in the background.

Technorati Tags: Big Brother

Go-Betweens stopped

Go-Betweens singer/songwriter Grant McLennan died in Brisbane yesterday.  He was 48.

Technorati Tags: Grant McLennan, Go-Betweens, Cattle and Cane

Sophie Delezio - what did she do wrong in a former life?

Sophie Delezio is a little girl who’s had a terrible run of luck in her 5 years.

First, in 2003, she was badly burned (85% of her body) when a car crashed into her daycare centre, and lost both feet, some fingers and an ear.

Today she is in hospital in a critical condition after being hit by a car while crossing a pedestrian crossing outside her preschool. She has a broken jaw and shoulder, several broken ribs and internal bleeding. After initial fears that her injuries were life threatening, it seems she is now expected to fully recover.

The poor kid is going to have a phobia about old men. The driver in the 2003 smash was 68, and yesterday’s an 80 year old. Yesterday’s driver deserves to have the book thrown at him - what sort of fuckwit overtakes a car stopped at a pedestrian crossing? I said to my wife last night when we heard about the accident on the news that anyone who does that should lose their license permanently - I stick to that view, whether the idiot is 20 or 80.

Hopefully Sophie will recover fully. I think if she was my child, I’d be tempted to home school her and keep her wrapped in cotton wool.

Update (07/-5/2006): Perhaps I was a bit harsh in my judgement of the old guy whose car hit Sophie. Saw the crossing on the news and its a bit of a bastard on a 4 lane road. Still, on thinking about it, would you go flying through a crossing in the right lane if a car in the left lane had stopped to give way?

Technorati Tags: Sophie Delezio, road accident