Letter to Executive Producers dated 23 May 2018   Proposed Four Corners programme explores merit of re-introducing Corporal and Capital punishment  

1305, 12 Glen Street 'The Pavilion'
Milsons Point  NSW  2061

scribepj@bigpond.com

0434 715.861

5 June 2018

 Insert one of the two enclosed DVDs in a Windows PC which will open at this 2nd_LetterToExecutiveProducersFourCorners_5-June-18.htm
If using a MAC or the enclosed USB stick drive, or the enclosed two DVDs do not open automatically in a Windows computer, open this letter at Punishment\ABC\2nd-LetterToExecutiveProducersFourCorners_5-June-18.htm . 
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Executive Producers
Four Corners
Refer: Sam Lipski and Robert Raymond

ABC Ultimo Centre
700 Harris Street
Ultimo NSW 2007

Dear Sam and Robert -  (click on any of the embedded URLs in blue text)

Proposed Four Corners programme that explores the merit of re-introducing both Corporal and Capital punishment for some criminal acts because of 'inter alia' a recent Commonwealth Parliamentary Report +++

When rehabilitation is judged achievable -

*        Corporal punishment needs to be swiftly applied as a 'deterrent' to others not to similarly offend; and

*        'incarceration' needs -

          ►     to be 'educational' and 'incorporate acquiring social inclusion skills' to reduce Australia's alarming recidivism rate; and

          ►     not to be a costly 'holding cage' for an extended period because empirical evidence evidences otherwise

+++ "It is acknowledged that the Australian imprisonment rate has been growing and that prison populations have reached an unacceptable level. Drivers behind the increase in imprisonment rates include changes in the justice system and the introduction of more punitive measures as a result of 'tough on crime' policies. In addition, the underlying social and economic determinants of crime compound systemic changes. To halt the increasing incarceration rate in Australia, all drivers of crime must be addressed."

Since the Writer posted his Letter to the two Executive Producers of Four Corners dated 23 May 2018 (in DVD and USB Flash Drive), he has read Articles and Reports - Bibliography on remedying the patent diseconomies of long term incarceration presented by practitioners 'at the coal face'.  Optimum correctional strategies espoused by the following make eminent sense:

• Eileen Baldry, a leading criminologist and University of New South Wales deputy vice-chancellor.

• Keith Hamburger, Queensland’s first Director General of Corrective Services

• Mick Palmer, former Australian Federal Police Commissioner

• Former NSW Director of Public Prosecutions, Nicholas Cowdrey.

• Megan Williams, a senior research fellow with the University of Western Sydney

• Andrew Bushnell, Institute of Public Affairs

Unfortunately, the familiar mantra by shock jock, Ray Hadley, 'et al' about being 'tough on crime' seemingly resonates with voters and has influenced how politicians expend the Public Purse:

"According to Mr Pelly, the pressure came largely from one source: 2GB’s Ray Hadley.

‘Ray has very solid links to the police and has a very particular view about law and order policy, and his voice is extremely influential.’

‘Each parliamentary office up at Parliament has a radio selection. And I can assure you that from 9 o clock to 12 o'clock, I'd say 80 per cent of parliamentarians had Ray Hadley on the radio and had Ray Hadley telling them for a good four months that Greg Smith is soft on crime, was a raving lunatic, that Barry O’Farrell should sack him.’

Gradually, Mr Smith lost the support of his colleagues. Mr Pelly says he was frustrated that amid the noise of the law and order rhetoric, the fact that the Attorney-General was aiming for a safer community was lost.

‘This is the whole folly of the exercise. That it doesn't allow for a nuanced approach.’

‘Don't forget we were a penal colony, founded on the idea that people could get a fresh start. Macquarie emancipated the convicts, made them productive members of society.’"

-------------------------------

"Baldry says prison overcrowding is a product of failed political leadership, and shows governments are unable to withstand the populist compulsion to incarcerate and appear tough on crime.

“I think it’s also a failure of intellectual or evidence-based leadership,” Baldry says. “I have talked to a number of treasurers over decades in NSW, for example, and laid out in front of them the cost of doing this.

“In many ways, many people in the public service understand this and do put these kinds of arguments forward. But, you know, treasurers and other ministers, when I talk to them, and this is both sides of politics, they say, ‘Look, I know that, I understand that, but it will just not fly with the public. It just will not fly with the cabinet.’'

Australian 'News services' recently played a video of school student Dimitrios Pagourtzis, 17, boasting that shortly he was going to his Sante Fe High School in Houston and shoot fellow school students; which he did.  (There has been, on average, 1 school shooting in US schools every week in 2018)  Seemingly a few teenagers in the USA want to "go out in a blaze of glory" by facing death from a police officer or security guard.  Police say they found pipe bombs and pressure-cooker bombs at Sante Fe High School where nine students and a teacher were killed in the shooting.  On social media, Pagourtzis posted a photo of a t-shirt reading "born to kill" along with a photo of a gun and knife.

Would the prospect of being flogged into an inch of one's death three times (each flogging a month apart) and then hung by the neck until pronounced dead, diminish the fervour to shoot fellow students?  It would hardly increase such atrocities.  Section 3 notes that a lot of Asian and Middle Eastern Countries observe that deterrent belief.  Is the criminal justice system doing enough to safeguard other potential victims from similarly losing their lives?

------------------------------------------------

The NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics & Research has directed the Writer to the ABS webpage (and also to the specific Excel file - Australia Tables 1 to 13, Then to table 12) that lists the number of prisoners in Australian gaols for various crimes. 

Below is an extract of Row 43 of Table 12 which shows 529 prisoners in Australian prisons serving sentences of 20 years and over:

I have included the above table in Section 6 in my 2nd draft of Proposed Four Corners programme explores merit of re-introducing Corporal and Capital punishment and also the below two additional 'Sections':

 9.         Corporal punishment in practice

 

 

10.        Cost-effective methods to -

              *        punish and rehabilitate criminal offenders; and

              *        deter other similar transgressors,

              advocated by practitioners 'at the coal face'

Hopefully, the ABC will deem it in the public interest to rely upon clause (1)(a)(ii) of s6 'Charter of the Corporation' of the ABC Act to "....broadcast programs of an educational nature...." by presenting all the fors and againsts on the recent practice amongst some Homo sapiens to commit criminal offenders to a steel cage for 18 hours a day, and associating with other criminals for six hours a day, for an extended period as a -

*        punishment for committing the offence/s; and

*        deterrent to cost-effectively discourage similar potential transgressors.

My previous letter offered to sell the R&D in my draft Submission for a Peppercorn Fee of $1.  Should the ABC be interested in that offer, I would be prepared to provide additional work for a pavlova if/when the programme went to air.

Yours sincerely

Phil Johnston aka Bank Teller

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