Increasingly, more women are in jail in Australia, and Aboriginal women are 21 times more likely to be jailed; most men and women in jail are suffering from mental health problems. The nation has an epidemic of poverty and homelessness, twin scourges which foster more draconian laws, longer jail sentences and so mushrooming prison building. Meanwhile police force numbers expand the more incompetent they are, especially re domestic crimes against women. Australia is in a downwards “justice” spiral: women are bearing the brunt. Radical re-thinking of flawed systems across federal, state and local governments needs to create better justice for the nation.
- Robodebt: special analysis: ‘Wicked, illegal, cruel, cover up’
- Federal Human Rights Act would have killed Robodebt stone dead
- When ‘a voice’ meant simply being counted as Australian
- Tasmania special: Is it time for island citizens to rebel and revolt
- Former CLA director appointed SC
- NT and ACT raising the age of criminal responsibility for children
- WA: crimes go unsolved, police abuse 12-year-old
- Inside the jail economy: prices up, products shrink
- SA launches formal bid for HR Act
- NZ may lower voting age to 16
- ‘Military academies’ to solve youth crime: proposal