I am just wondering what peoples thoughts are with regards to the length of prison sentences. I personally believe that prison sentences are to long and are just a way for society and victims to seek revenge!

We all know that the length of time people spend in jail is not a deterrent it is merely a way at “getting even” with the offender, (an eye for an eye a tooth for a tooth).

I am sure you will be hard pressed to find anyone who has robbed a bank because they would only do 10 years in a maximum security prison. If you ask the offender the reason they robbed the bank they will tell you that they thought they would get away with it and the fact that it is 5 years or 20 years in jail does not come into the equation because they think they won’t get caught. After all why rob a bank if you think you will get caught?

Other crimes like drink driving are also classic examples of society’s lust for blood. If somebody is involved in an accident, yes an accident, and they are drunk behind the wheel and kill anther person I can’t understand why the drunk should be sent to jail? Sure they were an idiot and an innocent person is now dead but is this person really a criminal? Do you honestly think that people who drive home after too many beers contemplate that if they are in an accident they will go to jail? I doubt it. They are probably more worried about not having to pay a taxi fair then considering far fetched hypothetical scenarios. The thought of loosing your licence for 6months is deternt enough! The only reason the drunk is sent to jail is so that the victims family can seek revenge. REVENGE! REVENGE! REVENGE! that’s what its all about. REVENGE! I don’t know about you but sending someone to jail for one million years wont make me feel any better about the loss of a loved one.

To put it simply people in 99% of cases commit crimes because 1. They think they wont get caught or 2. It was in the heat of the moment or a poorly thought through decision (husband kills wife in drunken rage). Neither of these 2 scenario would the thought of jail have any real effect on those who carried out the crime.

I think as a society we need to look at alternative to the age old system of revenge. Sure these people should be punished but letting them waste away in jail seems like……. Well such a waste. We should at the very least have them doing community work and have these people try and better themselves and pay back their debt to society instead of having them stare at a wall all day. Lets save jail for hardcore repeat offenders.

Another way of tackling prison time is to de-criminalize drug use and treat the problem medically instead of shutting down drug dealers and driving up the price of a hit of coke to $500 causing more violent crimes and robberies by desperate users but this is another issue for another day……

What bl@@dy rot.
I am not the least bit interested in revenge, I just want crime stopped.

We know that 90% of crime is committed by 10% of the population. If we lock up that 10%, we should have a massive reduction in crime.

With a full implemintation of the 3 strikes, & your in for 10 years, we may not reform, or rehabilitate them, a waste of time any way, but they will not be commiting any crimes for a while.

A nice chain gang clearing noxious plants from our national parks sounds good.

No. Prison sentences in Australia are ridiculously inadequate, and that’s why they don’t work.

The length of time people spent in prison is not a deterrent simply because they are not in prison long enough. Longer sentences and more of them are called for. Criminals have to be kept away from the rest of us until they learn.

Criminals, by definition are morons, and of course they think they will get away with it. When they don’t, the sentence is so lenient that it is as good as getting away with it.

Who gives a stuff whether or not a drunk “contemplates” going jail? He or she should be punished and spend enough time locked up to think about what they have done. If they don’t get the message, let them rot in jail. The more of these creeps who are locked up, the safer the rest of us are.

Seems as though you’ve had some “revenge” exacted on you, EasyTimes.

I’m all for real punishment, and little bit of revenge is not too bad either.

Bring back the lash and the rope!

your right and these pollies just dont bother to listen to the people

so something does need to be done and not just talked about.

go to this link and click on APP and you will find Crime and Policing Policy and several others or email for word doc
email:swulrich@bigpond.net.au

http://ozpolitic.com/

tell me what you think

not all of us are blind

Leigh - I have never been to jail if that is what you mean by someone getting revenge on me but a classmate from school did a number of years in jail for dangerous driving causing death. He was speeding and hit a man on a motor bike head on. Can you explain to me the logic of sending him to jail with murder's and other violent career criminals? Its not like he planned to go out kill him. The only reason he went to jail was to appease the general publics lust for blood.

Its so pointless!

That young kid who killed his 4 mates near Lismore is in a similar predicament. Should he be sent to jail?

Have you ever broken the speed limit? I know I have more times then I care to remember and if it had been me I would be the one in jail. When it comes to drink driving all I will say is that I think I may have once or twice pushed my luck a bit and would have been worried if I was pulled up for an rbt. But then again I might have been fine.

All I am saying is that 99%(all those who have ever sped) of people could be in my school mates shoes and doing time.

Jail should be used to rehabilitate offenders and try and stop them from doing it again. Not just lock them up and forget about them for 10 years let them and then wonder why they have reoffended again so quickly.

Jail is a simple solution to appease the peasant masses but it does not tackle the longer term problems nor is it a suitable punishment to some people who through there own bad luck are now branded wrongfully as criminals.