I wanted to have a little rant about all the fuss in WA over assaulting police officers.
Firstly, for those of you not in the know, three men were acquitted last week of various charges stemming from a pub brawl in Joondalup (I think I mentioned something about not going to northern suburbs pubs in an earlier post - case in point).
The brawl left a police officer paralysed down one side of his body.
Without going into the specifics of the case - which I don't know anyway - the men were all acquitted. This led to a massive public outcry, including a rally on the steps of Parliament.
The problem I have with this is that the mob mentality seems to be "if they're charged, throw them in jail." We need to respect the justice system and let it do its job. There wouldn't have been many people at that rally who sat in on the entire court case, heard all the ins and outs and understood why the jurors decided to acquit the men. That's the beauty of the system. We're meant to be innocent until proven guilty. Not the other way round.
This rally was quickly followed by WA politicians passing mandatory sentencing for those convicted of assaulting police officers, paramdeics and public transport security officers.
Which is great. I don't think it's such a bad thing really. But "the mob" were instantly appeased, going by the calls made to talkback radio this morning.
And this leads me to my final point. Even if those laws had been in place before this trial they wouldn't have made the slightest difference. Because the three men were acquitted and the legislation covers people who are convicted.
The mob mentality really frustrates me sometimes.
3 months ago
3 comments:
The human condition is often a beautiful slice of fail-pie. For all we know the officers didn't appropiately apply their legal methods in stopping the brawl. It is true how people often make up their minds without knowing the facts.
Iraq much?
Good point. I meant to add that while I don't think mandatory jail terms for people convicted of assaulting police officers are necessarily a bad thing, there still needs to be checks and balances in place to make sure cops are doing the right thing in the first place. Because cops are human, and they can be corrupt/make mistakes just as much as the rest of us.
If they're guilty hang them! What's the problem Dave!! :)) - Dave
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