Yes, it's those pesky American blockbusters. Ever since last year, when they started including scenes of violence, everything has gone to hell.

Hi Foxy, sorry for the teasing earlier.

I still stand by some of this teasing, however. A quick google shows the media reports on a surge in violence every year, while the Australian Institute of Criminology shows a gentle rise without surges.

Also, where are you getting all these stats from? Some of your conclusions don't make sense. For example, if severe stabbings have risen 89% in the past year, but risky alcohol consumption has only jumped 9% in 7 years, then it doesn't look like the stabbings are linked to alcohol consumption. Some of the stats don't tally with, for example, Victoria Police's own statistics - see http://www.police.vic.gov.au/statistics/State%5CState.html

Having said that, I'm not saying there hasn't been a rise, just that it's probably not as bad as reports indicate. You mentioned Brunswick Street in an earlier post - I walk up it in the early hours of the morning every now and then, alone and with others, and have always felt (and been) perfectly safe. Likewise Melbourne CBD. People always say Kings Cross in Sydney is unsafe, but I lived their for years in my 20s without incident. I know anecdotes don't make statistics, but the lived experience is different from the stats, and that's interesting.

I'm very sorry to hear about your nephew, but a young person with an alcohol problem is not emblematic of this day and age. There was another thread about gambling on the telly. I said ban it on the basis of a gambling family member, you said gambling would be available regardless. I kept meaning to go back to that thread to say that I've reconsidered the issue, and you're right. I think the same argument applies to alcohol.

I don't mean to dispute your stats, but I do mean to interrogate them. Every age imagines it's going to hell in a handbasket, but we always seem to manage to hold back the tide (to mix a metaphor.)

Some good points in this link which attributes cause of violence/crime to three major factors - economic/poverty, social and family.

http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:ecHrOhxPhngJ:www.preventingcrime.net/library/Causes_of_Crime.pdf+causes+of+increase+in+violence&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3

It is interesting reading if you have the time.

Dear Vanilla,

The statistics were taken from The Age newspaper. And I've cited the
sources.

As "The Age,' tells us in their Editorial - Opinion - Feb. 23, 2008,
"When the architect of Victoria's liberal drinking laws voices concern at what his reforms have led to, you know there is a problem."

The Australian Institute of Criminology says that the incidence of male victims of assault is rising: from 12,786 in 2000-01 to 15,281 in 2005-06.

Recent headlines:

"In the name of the son, a family pleads for the forgotten ones - Justice for James" The Age, April 29

"The booze battlegrounds" The Age, June 9

"From party to bloodbath in 45 minutes of hell" The Age, July 8

"Thugs boasted of bashing student" Herald Sun, August 9

"Man bashed unconscious" Herald Sun, August 13

"Melbourne's nightlife should be vibrant, not violent" The Age,
February 23, 2008

"Overworked and underthreat: life behind the wheel" (taxi-drivers)
The Age, February 17, 2008.

"The Age" as listed above gives an insight into the life of taxi drivers. Arun Badgujar, president of the Victorian Taxi Drivers
Association, insists that on average at least five of the state's cabbies are assaulted, on average, every day.

Taxi driving is a hazardous business. Praboj Rhani says, "For the first few weeks of taking a taxi home, which I've done for the past 55 Saturday nights, I've heard the same story. One of being bashed, threatened or sitting helplessly as passengers do a "runner."

Foxy, you posted:

"The Australian Institute of Criminology says that the incidence of male victims of assault is rising: from 12,786 in 2000-01 to 15,281 in 2005-06."

Thats a compound annual increase of 4.5%

Hardly the end of the world

Look at the souce of funding= now wheres ours?

Well if you are an Australian born little old lady who has had her rights not respected you have probably not received much assistance. from Terry .

The do gooders need the facts. Chip Chip Chip away at our laws.

Youths are 'not' brought to justice. Oh leave him alone his just fourteen. He’s on drugs etc. "That what’s wrong "but that’s ok the do gooders

http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:DJ-grvr7ft8J:www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/pjcaad/asio_ques_detention/subs/sub107.pdf+funding+for+civil+right+authoritys&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=10&gl=au

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/8.30/lawrpt/stories/s479175.htm

http://www.qccl.org.au/Officebearers.htm

http://www.qccl.org.au/links.asp=

With the generous funding of the Law and Justice Foundation of
NSW, we are in the process of preparing a second edition of the booklet, which
will also be produced in Arabic, Bahasa Indonesia and Urdu.
Further, with the cooperation of other community organisations and community
legal centres, we have conducted a number of community legal education
seminars about the anti-terror laws. The aim of these activities is not only to
educate the community and explain some of the intricacies of the legislation, but
also to empower them with the knowledge that there are also safeguards in the
laws, and that some of their rights are also protected. In this way it is our hope
that some of the fear and paranoia in the community can be allayed.
As the Acting Chair aptly pointed out, it should also be the responsibility of the government and the agencies to allay these fears. We note with disappointment that it does not appear that governments or the agencies have taken on this role in any meaningful way.

Question posed to Islamic Council of New South Wales, 6 June 2005, Proof Hansard, p. 44.
________________________________________

2. Senator ROBERT RAY—At the moment, ASIO can apply to the Department
of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and the foreign minister can have a passport suspended without reference to this legislation. Unless the AAT overturns it,it can be suspended for years on end whereas, under this legislation, it is only for 28 days from the time of the warrant, as I understand it.