Banjo

https://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=22304&page=0

If you read this article, you will see that not only are a substantial number of people being convicted wrongly of sex crimes but that the police are bending over backwards to obtain convictions.

Your solution is to abandon all the laws and guidelines on evidence and set up kangaroo courts where the accused need to prove their innocence.

The dark side of this is that your guilt seems to depend on your political leanings where Bill Shorten is declared innocent with as much evidence against him as Pell yet Pell is declared guilty by hypocrites such as Foxy before the trial is even concluded. Even after Pell is exonerated by the high court he is declared guilty by the activist fwits.

Even your figure of 99% accused getting scot-free is fabricated from assumptions such as only 1 in 20 rapes are reported etc.

The harsh reality is that if a rape victim does not go directly to the police and submit to forensic examination the evidence of intercourse, DNA evidence and any photographic evidence of forced sex are lost which makes convictions far more difficult.

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Dear shadowminister,

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Thanks for that. Yes, I’m sure there are quite a number of cases of false allegations of rape and various other forms of sexual abuse similar to those indicated in the “Mobiles in the dock” article posted by Bettina Arndt.

Nevertheless, as Jane Gilmore pointed out in the article for which I provided a link in my previous post : “For every false allegation there are over 220 rapes not reported to police”.

Here is an article published in the magazine “Elle” last year titled “Australia's Justice System For Victim-Survivors Of Sexual Assault Is Broken—It's Time To Fix It” :

http://www.elle.com.au/culture/sexual-assault-justice-system-australia-26944

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Dear NathanJ,

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I read your feedback with interest. Though we obviously have different sensibilities and opinions on a number of points, apparently we both feel that our justice system does need to be put back on the drawing board and redesigned to deal more effectively with criminal activity, particularly sex crimes.

By the way, you mention that “Justice isn't about democracy “. I, personally, consider that the objective of democracy is justice – but that’s another subject.

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This has been an interesting discussion and I am grateful
for all the different comments and the civilised way in
which on the whole this discussion has unfolded. Most people
did not stoop to emotional personal attacks. Instead they
lifted the bar on this discussion and kept it high.

The Cardinal
will soon be buried - and whether you respect him or not
his legacy will continue to be a polarising one - especially
for the people that had any dealings with him on a more
personal level.

I remember reading about the incident in Torquoy at the swimming
pool where the Cardinal was told to leave the change-rooms -as he
stood naked in front of the little boys by a guard. Who said -
"I know what you're doing, and if you ever come back here again - I'll call the cops!" "Get the hell out!" This is the record our luminary
had dating back to the 1960s. Many of his victims committed
suicide - so were unable to testify. Lack of evidence? They took
that to the grave with them.

I doubt if the man will rest in peace. And that's not just
my view. You can respect the High Court's decision or not -
and you can continue to shower the man in compliments and make
excuses for him. I don't want to do either.

And having been brought up as a
staunch Catholic, (dad was raised by the Jesuits - and my husband
by Christian Brothers), I would fight my family - to see that my
grand-kids don't go to Catholic Schools. My trust in that
institution has been lost.

This topic has proved, again, that there are some really awful people in this country and on this site. Slandering people before they have been tried: continuing to slander them after they have been cleared.

Australia has all the symptoms that lead to totalitarianism, where people trust nobody and say nothing because they don't know who's listening. As we creep further to the left, it can only get worse.

"Slandering" people?
Not at all. Recorded facts speak for themselves no
matter how distressing they may be to some defenders
of the Cardinal and the Church.

The detectives from
the taskforce SANO had an entire dossier on Cardinal Pell
for "multiple offences," going back to when he was a priest
in Ballarat and continuing when he was an archbishop and
then a cardinal.

These incidents are not "slander," but merely
reported incidents of their time.

And why should the people doing the reporting be classified
as "awful" people and the cardinal not be?

The reports go back to the 1960s for example just to quote
a few - There's the Southwell Report
where Pell was accused of abusine a 12 year old altar
boy at an altar boy's camp on Phillip Island.

Then there was the incident of Pell exposing
himself to three young boys at a surf club in
Torquay. Then there's the case of 2 former St Alipius
students swimming at the Eureka pool in Ballarat -
and the list goes on.

They all lied?

Seems there's a bit of a pattern here. And although these
young boys may be "awful" people - what does that make Cardinal
Pell to be?

The High Court found there wasn't enough evidence? In sexual
abuse cases that often happens. That's why as Banjo points
out the justice system does not reforming. And I agree. That
does not make any of us "awful people." But perhaps those
suggesting that we are need to look at their own motives for
why they are suggesting that and even questioning the motives
behind a topical discussion such as this one - which affects
so many people around the country and the world.

The Church and the abhorrent sexual abuse by its clergy is a
topic that needs to be discussed and not brushed aside and
hidden. It has/does affect too many people.