Hand holding for Canberra's worst crime families [with poll]

Interesting idea, and worth a shot I think. I’d rather have a reduction in crime than an increase in imprisonments, especially since the former is probably more likely than the latter in the ACT. It probably won’t have an immediate impact, but if they’re so far gone that they don’t even have birth certificates for their kids then locking up individuals isn’t going to do anything to change the behaviour of the group.

I doubt very much that burglary is a particularly competitive industry, so I don’t think that there are 12 other families waiting in the wings to take the place of the current high achievers.

facet said :

Sounds a lot like the Restorative Justice, Social Psychologist rubbish.
You know the academic nonsense that says these people are not criminals but victims.

Criminal and victim are not mutually exclusive categories, you know. Life is a little more complicated than that. Can you not see that a child growing up in an environment where their parents consider drugs, theft and abuse as normal, the child will also? Kids emulate the adults around them. That’s how they learn. It’s not about anxious hand-wringing, it’s about understanding how humans operate and trying to use it manipulate the target families into behaving in a more socially acceptable way.

I reckon trying to prevent crime is definitely worth an attempt. It might work, it might not, but surely it’s worth a crack.

bigfeet said :

Deano said :

So your solution is that we should encourage these people to commit more crimes just so we can lock them up.

Bring in a three strike rule. Third time for the same offence then you get the maximum penalty. Or a four strike rule…or even a five.

Why should it be the same offence? It should be any criminal offence outside of traffic offences, excluding culpable driving, DUI, and other high end vehicular related crimes.

The three strikes are there to demonstrate to a judge that this member has continuously thumbed his/her nose at the laws of society and needs to go away.

So, a crim steals a car and goes away for his stint (assuming he gets one), get’s released and assaults some innocent person so goes away again, then when he goes DUI it’s his third strike and he goes down the river for 20 years!, Stiff sh*t crim, we gave you enough opportunity to do the right thing!

Next!!!

JustThinking said :

Our last foster child was 12yo and been in trouble since he was 8yo for break/enter, theft etc. Why? Because his drunk drugged out parents used to sit at home and tell him if he didn’t go find money that his little sister would go without food for the day. He began just taking money from parked cars then realised there was alot more in houses and handbags. Then his parents started giving him lists of things they wanted from houses. He was their special boy and he was always the favourite child.
He didn’t do it because he wanted the money/stuff. He did it because it was the only time his parents showed him affection/attention.

If this “approach” does nothing for the elder family members, atleast it might help the younger ones before it is too late.

Jezuz kriste! There’s a case for public whippings for people like that.

Re the program – let’s see the evidence. Has it worked elsewhere? If so, why haven’t we been doing it before? If not, it might be worth a try, but they should make the results public.

Deano said :

So your solution is that we should encourage these people to commit more crimes just so we can lock them up.

How about we just enforce the laws we have?

According to the Criminal Code, Burglary carries a penalty of 14 years imprisonment. How often has that penalty ever been imposed? I would hazard a guess – never.

Bring in a three strike rule. Third time for the same offence then you get the maximum penalty. Or a four strike rule…or even a five.

Just enforce the maximum penalty after a couple of times of warnings, probation, counselling, hand-holding and blaming society has obviously failed.

Just 12 families? take a photo of each family, make it into a calendar, sell it for $15 with the proceeds going to police surveillance. 2 birds with one stone – police get funding, and we can keep a watch on the thieves

Criminal convictions, even charges, are public information, unless the person is a juvenile or their name is suppressed by the court (usually only in cases where to name them would identify the victim).

Simply google-ing your neighbour’s name will often find articles from Canberra Times or ABC news.

MHW

facet said :

Name them in public forums.
With a bit of luck (and community pressure) they will move to Sydney and join the other criminals, paedophiles and merchant bankers.

LOL you think they care about being named? They won’t move to Sydney. They’ll just think now people know how BAD they are people will fear them and stay out of their way. These type of people don’t care if you know they stole a car or bashed someones head in,,they think that makes them COOL..

gospeedygo said :

Can I send my 2 dollars a day to one of these kiddies?

Might be worth $2 a day now rather than your new car in 6 months.

Our last foster child was 12yo and been in trouble since he was 8yo for break/enter, theft etc. Why? Because his drunk drugged out parents used to sit at home and tell him if he didn’t go find money that his little sister would go without food for the day. He began just taking money from parked cars then realised there was alot more in houses and handbags. Then his parents started giving him lists of things they wanted from houses. He was their special boy and he was always the favourite child.
He didn’t do it because he wanted the money/stuff. He did it because it was the only time his parents showed him affection/attention.

If this “approach” does nothing for the elder family members, atleast it might help the younger ones before it is too late.

futto said :

Look, let’s give the cops a go with this idea but I don’t think it will work. These people are fundamentally broken and are most likely sociopaths, leaching off society’s good will.

I do wonder if we locked all these families up for a really long time, would we see a real drop in crime or would others fill the gaps?

Agree these families are fundamentally “broken” and this behaviour persists from one generation to the next.
Why then are they given the same right to “privacy” as law abiding members of the community?
Name them in public forums.
With a bit of luck (and community pressure) they will move to Sydney and join the other criminals, paedophiles and merchant bankers.

Can I send my 2 dollars a day to one of these kiddies?