The Common Man.... MP

Over recent months our great leaders have been more in the spotlight than ever before, the growing financial crisis forcing them into press conferences making bold and sweeping statements which on the whole have left me feeling, well a little unimpressed. It is easy to sit on the sidelines and criticise those who play the game, we are all arm chair experts. So I am, over the following few weeks going to lay out the common mans manifesto for election to that of most exalted position.... Official Government Critic.

So to begin, i thought i would offer my eye to Law & Order, a subject currently in the minds of my local community.

Law & Order

What Is happening?
Well as i see it law is a set of rules formed around what a collective or society accept to be fair, a collection of held ideals that are written down and then enforced on the behalf of the masses. So why is it that i hear so many people complain that the law is too soft? It is without question that lawlessness is on the increase from shoplifting to murder, from drug dealing to driving offenses we are seeing an ever increasing number of crimes committed and criminals getting light if any sentences.

Why Is It Happening?
There are a number of social & economic reasons crime is on the increase, but the root of the problem, in my humble opinion, is consequences. We now live in a society where actions are not related to consequences. Teenagers shoplift and there is no consequence, the police are powerless, the courts do nothing and even the family defend the guilty. When i was young (oh my now i sound like my father) being driven home in a police car, or having your parents called to a shop where you had been caught was a thing to inspire fear, now it is a badge of honour to be worn with pride. There are no realistic deterrents anymore, the consequences of crime are so light that the only surprise to me is we do not see an even bigger increase in law breaking.

Ok So What Do We Do?
Simple, get tough! Menu sentencing, cuts down on court time, cuts down the millions wasted by tax payers on legal aid etc & if structured correctly reduces the number of people in prison thus allowing for longer sentences for more serious crimes. Allow me to offer to you today's menu -

Shoplifting - $1000 on the spot fine + 38hours service to the store owner. If you are unable to pay said fine then 76hours service. This time will be spent working for the store owner or manager doing tasks which they require. eg. you get nicked for shoplifting in Coles Supermarket, you are 15 and subsequently can not pay the fine so for 76hours you must sweep the warehouse floor while wearing a jacket with the words I am a criminal printed on it. Fines & Service durations double with each offense.

Drink Driving - $8000 on the spot fine + 3 years loss of driving license + mandatory driving test resit following banned period. There is a reason you are not allowed to be drunk while on duty in the army, because lethal weapons and booze don't mix, when driving you are in charge of a weapon and yet if your drunk you can get away with 6 months driving ban and a $500 fine... not enough. Under this proposed law the 3 year ban is mandatory as is the driving test, if you are unable to pay the fine your vehicle will be confiscated and sold at auction, any funds exceeding the fine will be given to you the offender, any shortfall and you will have the 3 year period to pay them, if you fail to do so you will remain banned from driving until such time as your debt is paid. further offenses would see both the fine and the loss of license multiply by a factor of 3.

I'm sure you now get the picture for crimes that at present do not carry a prison sentence, get harsh, get it through to people that breaking what are currently seen as minor laws and minor offenses will be dealt with quickly, harshly and without any appeal against set sentences. Shoplifting a mars bar will become just too much trouble, having that extra drink in the pub becomes to risky.

As for more serious crimes such as rape, murder etc we need to look at the length of time people spend in prison and in what conditions. Lets be fair most modern prisons have better facilities than your average Bed and Breakfast, committed rape, oh well you bad person here go stay in this 3* hotel for three years, get educated, use the Internet and all at the tax payers expense. Sentences must be longer, with offenders serving the entire length not just a portion of it, and prisons should not be health spars, they should be foreboding places. Victims, or in the tragic cases the families of victims should be allowed to have an input into how the offenders time is spent. Hard labour should be reintroduced as soon as possible, food should be plain and of a standard which is minimally acceptable. The only place a computer has in a prison is in the Governors office, inmates should not have time to look things up on the Internet they should be too busy paying for their crimes. Up at 6am and lights out at 9pm the day in between should be spent doing physically hard labour which serves no apparent task eg moving a pile of rocks from one location to another only to have to move it back the next day.

Sentencing must carry a much higher consequence, rape should be 20 years minimum, child abuse should be life and mean life, till the day you die, armed robbery 30 years and so on. As to the hot topic, the death penalty, yes say I for murder, standard 20 year in prison should give people a fair chance to prove their innocence, if you cant in that period then yes, by firing squad, because why waste tax payers money on giving a murderer a dignified death when a bullet is less expensive and just as efficient.

I could go on for pages, but i think you get the picture, if we stand any chance of stopping the downward spiral we must bring back a fear of the consequence of crime, we as a society set these rules because we did not want to live in a world without them, but now we have gone soft, we do not want to live with the moral consequence of making people pay for breaking the rules... harden up people or don't moan when some toerag is stealing for TV, raping your Grannie or pushing the cost of your shopping up by not paying for theirs.