7 February 2011

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

| johnboy
Join the conversation
23

On Saturday the Canberra Times had an intriguing story on the 12 families in Canberra responsible for 25% of property crime in the city.

Sadly the families were not named, but an intriguing approach to the recidivist criminals was announced:

As The Canberra Times reveals these astonishing numbers, the police are taking a unique approach by sending case workers to try to dissuade the families from a life of crime.

It is, however, a carrot and stick approach. The police are determined to crack down on repeat offenders if they show no signs of ceasing, aware that householders are very fearful of intrusions on their property.

”It’s not always about joyriding or drinking or drugs, there is a significant socio-economic driver here. We’re dealing with these families’ underlying problems, not just the manifestation of them, which is crime.”

Assistant Commissioner Quaedvlieg said police were leading a whole-of-government effort involving housing, health and education services to help the families and cut crime. ”Some of the kids don’t have birth certificates, they don’t have access to health benefits, and because of those things which disengage them from the social machinery, they are suffering poverty,” he said.

”We’re case triaging each of the families, they each have a case officer, we’re giving them access to employment opportunities, educational programs. That is taking bite.

Helping recidivist crime families to better integrate in society

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...

Join the conversation

23
All Comments
  • All Comments
  • Website Comments
LatestOldest

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.

Captain RAAF8:29 am 09 Feb 11

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

Mental Health Worker8:17 pm 08 Feb 11

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

JustThinking7:55 pm 08 Feb 11

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?

JustThinking6:55 pm 08 Feb 11

Might not fix some of the older family members but sure couldn’t hurt showing/helping the up-n-coming younger family members who will be robbing your house next year or the year after if nothing happens to change thier view on things…

Half the time it is hard to catch these family crims as they know the system too well and cover each others butts.
You have a victim identify one of them, then you have 8 of them saying “no wasn’t him, he was at home with us playing cards all night” Police may very well KNOW it was him but cannot lay charges with one witness versus 8 witnesses.

Maybe if the younger ones get some help/education now it will give them some insight into what could lay ahead.

futto said :

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?

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

lobster said :

If it is property crime, then it is just going to be people stealing cars and breaking other peoples stuff.
Probably not big names that everyone would know.

Thefts, robberies, burglaries, stolen cars, shoplifting, property damage etc

futto said :

…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?

Well the “others” not in the top twelve would have more “opportunities” open up and would therefore probably find themselves in the top twelve.

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?

If it is property crime, then it is just going to be people stealing cars and breaking other peoples stuff.
Probably not big names that everyone would know.

Tooks said :

PBO said :

Lets see….. Massey, Mapham, King…. Thats 3. Can we fill out the rest? I only put these up as they are in the public arena and have been named before.

I doubt they’d be in the top 12.

Well that has me stumpted then, I was going to say Crutsky but I thought that the tried and true names would work. Must be a belco thing.

Captain RAAF11:01 am 07 Feb 11

Tooks said :

PBO said :

Lets see….. Massey, Mapham, King…. Thats 3. Can we fill out the rest? I only put these up as they are in the public arena and have been named before.

I doubt they’d be in the top 12.

I reckon my neighbours might be!

Any way to check court records for addresses of perps so I can do a little cross-checking??

PBO said :

Lets see….. Massey, Mapham, King…. Thats 3. Can we fill out the rest? I only put these up as they are in the public arena and have been named before.

I doubt they’d be in the top 12.

Lets see….. Massey, Mapham, King…. Thats 3. Can we fill out the rest? I only put these up as they are in the public arena and have been named before.

No birth certificate? Surely they can either issue one retroactively (clearly they were born sometime – unless they hatched) or they should be safely locked away in immigration detention?

facet said :

It’s just a case of mind over matter. They don’t mind and you don’t matter.
Sounds a lot like the Restorative Justice, Social Psychologist rubbish.
You know the academic nonsense that says these people are not criminals but victims.

These people *are* criminals, no doubt about it. However, the point here is to reduce / eradicate the criminal behaviour rather than to “just” punish the criminals. If the method “piloted” here will result in less crime, then I’m all in favour for it.

It’s just a case of mind over matter. They don’t mind and you don’t matter.
Sounds a lot like the Restorative Justice, Social Psychologist rubbish.
You know the academic nonsense that says these people are not criminals but victims.

Daily Digest

Want the best Canberra news delivered daily? Every day we package the most popular Riotact stories and send them straight to your inbox. Sign-up now for trusted local news that will never be behind a paywall.

By submitting your email address you are agreeing to Region Group's terms and conditions and privacy policy.