Turning Away From a Law & Order Debate

With the New South Wales State Election drawing further into the distance and with a new state leader in the Liberal Party, it is safe to say through even a small level of evaluation that the issue of law and order was raised to a rather limited extent compared to previous state elections. Upon looking into the subject it is fairly common to see that the economy had a rather large influence in leading parties away from the typical, rambling tirade that so commonly attaches itself to these elections in NSW. Of paramount importance to the state candidates shying away from the to-and-fro of law and order promises is money and realisation of rehabilitation! Aside from the Labor leader, Kristina Keneally, and her promise of “Anti-Mafia” style laws to get “tough on crime” (as bloody usual), the Liberal Party and leader Barry O’Farrell highlighted the importance of confronting the issue of recidivism and turning one step closer towards a more rehabilitative form of healing for criminals in NSW.

With NSW holding up to 40% of Australia’s prison population and with a rate of 58% of prisoners returning to prison at some stage in their life it is clear that the states focus must be on reducing the numbers of people re-offending and limiting the money that taxpayers are contributing to this “rotating-door” style of rehabilitation. As a result, the opposition took into account some valued information given from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, unlike poor Kristina. The ABS believes that with a 6% drop in prison population the state will save $28,000,000 a year, and that’s only six percent! They also punctured the myth that innovations in sentencing, not just in NSW, but around the nation, had helped cut prisoner numbers. As part of their Crime and Justice Bulletin, the ABS stated that “there is limited evidence that these alternatives to prison have been effective in reducing the use of imprisonment” – again, pppppoooooorrrr Kristina.

To conclude, it is good to see there has been a change of focus in state election in NSW, although a Labor supporter I wasn’t too sad in seeing Kristina go and I welcome the introduction of Barry O’Farrell as it seems he has a focus on more important things rather than “law and order auctions” as he put it. Hopefully in time we will see a shift towards a rehabilitative for of aid for criminals not only for them but for taxpayers like you and I as well!