Letters: Death of pencil thief is a national disgrace
Date: 12/02/2000
The mandatory sentencing laws in the Northern Territory should be
repealed immediately by the Federal Government.
The detention of juveniles has increased by 146 per cent since the laws
were introduced.
The tragic death of an Aboriginal orphan boy, in custody for stealing a
few art materials from a school, was saddening and shocking, and
casts shame on Australia.
I listened to the stony-faced Northern Territory minister as he
vociferously defended this law, and realised there was not an atom of
compassion or understanding in this man. Our outback indigenous
Australians are from a culture where the land is sacred and
communities share.
The culture imposed on them is one where the land is exploited and
possessions are sacred. Such a reversal of values must be very hard
for these Aborigines to comprehend.
Perhaps we could make more effort to appreciate these values.
I wonder how much encouragement and what facilities are available to
these young people in remote communities to help them follow
and develop their talents and interests?
B.H. Cliff, Elanora Heights.
When the Northern Territory Government passed enlightened legislation
permitting informed, compassionate voluntary euthanasia, the
Federal Government overruled it. Remember the moralistic fervour? The
certainty then that big (bigoted?) brother in Canberra had every
right to overturn State government decisions?
Now we find that State government legislation is sacrosanct. Now that
mandatory sentencing is in place in two States.
Now that judges and magistrates are no longer able to exercise wise,
humane discretion in making a punishment fit a crime. Now that
tragically young, usually black, frequently non-English-speaking and
certainly underprivileged minor offenders seem to have become
expendable.
What sickening hypocrisy.
Elizabeth Brownlee, Gladesville.
I felt sick and embarrassed at the thought of some kid in our
over-affluent country being incarcerated for stealing paints and Textas
and
then driven to suicide.
Transportation for stealing a loaf of bread immediately sprang to mind.
That this teenager belonged to Australia's most socially
disadvantaged (and historically wronged) people only extends my sense of
shame and bewilderment that such a system be allowed to
dispense what is cynically called "juvenile justice".
Dymphna Rees Peterson, Castlecrag.
I can't understand those people who lament that Australia is not harder
on criminals. What cause of concern can they have when it
appears the Northern Territory Government has effectively introduced the
death penalty for the stealing of pencils?
Paul Gittings, Russell Lea.
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